Menstrual Hygiene during lockdown: Brothers help their sisters make reusable sanitary pads

COVID19 impact on girls - brothers come to help

Lucknow: While much of the world continues to hide menstruation and menstrual products out of shame and embarrassment, in rural Malihabad, Lucknow, Aneesha and Deeksha are enlisting their brothers’ help to sew their own sanitary pads.

Across the globe, menstruation is highly stigmatized and tabooed. In India, this results in many girls and women getting infections for lack of proper hygiene. BBC Magazine estimates that 70% of all reproductive ailments in India stem from poor menstrual hygiene. Yet, rather than addressing the stigma and resulting shame that cause women and girls to hide their periods, most efforts until now have largely focused simply on providing disposable sanitary pads. While a necessary stopgap to prevent infections, disposable pads bring their own set of problems, including a high financial cost to women and their families, as well as a high environmental cost to our planet.

At Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF), teachers engage their students, both male and female, in discussions to explain the process of menstruation, address myths and taboos, and emphasize the fact that menstruation is natural. Our students are then supported as they take the discussion home to their families in order to eliminate stigma and spread the message that periods are natural and nothing to be ashamed of. This May, in honor of Menstrual Hygiene Day, our students are learning to sew their own cloth sanitary napkins at home, and daring to break age-old taboos by drying them outside in the sun.

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Anmol helping her sister Aneesha make reusable sanitary pads

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Even amidst the lock down, the campaign has given students the opportunity to spread awareness and promote positive change. “I was happy to see that my brother did not feel ashamed to be making pads with me,” says Aneesha who is a student of Vidyasthali – Study Hall Educational Foundation’s rural school for under-served children.

“Everyone thinks that menstruation is a curse, but it’s a natural, healthy process”, she adds. Her brother Anmol also a student of Vidyasthali enjoyed the new experience, saying, “At first I didn’t know what she was making, but then she explained it to me and told me about menstrual hygiene. I think many people feel ashamed discussing this topic because they don’t know how important it is.” Deeksha also a Vidyasthali student, saw this as an opportunity to do something for other girls who lack access to menstrual products. “There are so many girls who don’t have money to buy pads,” she says,

“I want to make more pads and distribute them to girls who need them.”

Like Anmol, Deeksha’s brother Himanshu says he also learned a lot from his sister about menstruation and menstrual hygiene.

Since the campaign began two weeks ago, more than 20 girls have proudly shared pictures of their homemade pads, and more are shared each day. “It’s exciting to see our students take up the issue with such dedication and commitment to creating change,” says Zarine García, Director of Youth Leadership at SHEF, who is coordinating the campaign. “The stigma around menstruation has a severe negative impact on the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of girls and women everywhere. As a society, and a world, we need to change the way we look at menstruation, stop hiding it, and let it come into the light.”

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