Menstruation: Why do Indian activists reveal the dates of their menstrual cycles?

This is what the young Indian Alveshan says, and she is not the only one in her city to do so, as there are dozens of women who share the same thing after joining a special awareness campaign on the need for support of women during their period. menstrual cycle and to reveal the type of problems and changes they face during that period.

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Alveshan lives in the northern Indian city of Meerut, 100 kilometers west of New Delhi.

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The initiative to launch this campaign is remarkable, as even the mere reference to menstruation is taboo in many parts of South Asia. In some rural and tribal societies, menstruating women are still forced to isolate themselves in private spaces and use separate dishes.

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menstrual cycle times

Those practices of separating menstruating women are becoming less common today, and activists are now campaigning to encourage women to open up about their periods by hanging charts showing their menstrual dates.

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Alveshan says the initiative has already worked wonderfully for her.

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“Women suffer from a lot of problems during their menstrual cycle,” she explains. He has hiccups, hypersensitivity, weakness and many other problems. But since I started doing this program at home, everyone knows when I have my period. ”

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She hopes her openness to it will make others, especially men, more understanding about her situation and empathetic about her menstrual needs.

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photo released, Getty Images

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emotional support

Alima, a school teacher and another participant in this project or initiative, says that after deciding to reveal her menstrual cycles to all seven of her family members, she receives more emotional support and assistance than before.

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“I am well aware of the problems working women face during menstruation. By being open about this, we are receiving more support at home. It is a very positive experience,” Alima told the BBC.

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Alima is also from the city of Meerut, which has a population of around two million, and around 70 married or single women from the city have joined the initiative.

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“Selfie with my daughter” campaign.

The question that arises is how did the opening on the menstrual cycle begin in a conservative and usually closed society?

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The person behind the promotion and leadership of the Women’s Period Reveal Initiative is Sunil Jaglan, director of the NGO Selfie With My Daughter, which empowers and frees rural women.

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Jaglan founded the organization in 2012 and says the idea came to him in response to the position of the nurse who helped his wife when their daughter was born. He wanted to tip the nurse, but she refused, saying that the tip was only accepted at the birth of a son.

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The menstrual cycle awareness campaign began in Meerut in December 2021 by distributing posters in the city.

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“I’ve always thought about the problems women face while menstruating,” Jaglan says. “I have seen many women in our family have problems because of this.”

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“I always thought I should do something about it. After talking to the doctors, I launched this campaign.”

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photo released, Sunil Jaglan

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The schedules first appeared in some villages in the Noah and Jind districts of Haryana.

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Since then, the campaign has spread to seven Indian states, with nearly 1,000 women participating.

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“Inappropriate comments”

Campaign volunteers used a variety of methods, from phones to social media and home visits, to encourage more women to open up about their periods.

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Sometimes success was their ally, while other times they faced strong resistance.

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“There have been some people who have made inappropriate comments about women, even their daughters,” Jaglan says. “In many places, these rankings have been torn, or even girls are not allowed to comment.”

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Meerut, like many other places in northern India, is a socially conservative city and it is difficult for women to prove their presence and worth at home.

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This is why activists try to reach out to religious leaders and get their support to moderate the opposition.

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photo released, Shahbaz Anwar

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The pressures of a large extended family

One of the reasons that hindered the progress of the campaign and slowed its spread is the social structure in those areas of India where large families live together in a single house.

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Alia, a housewife living in a large extended family, presents her with additional challenges.

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“Besides my husband, of course, and his father and brother, there are many other male relatives who visit the house regularly, so when I first learned about the menstruation planning campaign, I immediately thought it would not be possible. in our home, ”says Alia.

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But her husband supported the campaign idea and also tried to get her mother involved. And now Alia gets more support from other family members during her period than she does.

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Poverty and menstruation

Manisha, another participant in the Timelines project, believes the campaign allowed her to talk about her time with male family members without any hesitation or hesitation.

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“This is related to our health,” he says. “Everyone in the family should be aware of our menstruation problems.”

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“Women often become irritable and argumentative during menstruation. By knowing these hidden health problems, people are more understanding and empathetic.”

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photo released, Getty Images

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An Indian government survey released in 2019 showed that most Indian girls and women still use unsanitary protection methods during their period, such as cutting old clothes. Many of them are too poor to buy sanitary pads.

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In recent years, cheap and locally produced sanitary napkins have provided some relief to those with insufficient resources or who are poor.

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But the taboo on menstruation, and the ban on talking about it, still prevents women from going to stores and buying menstrual hygiene products.

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‘No shame’

For years, Elvishan’s mother bought his pads and hid them in a black plastic bag.

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“I used to be ashamed of buying sanitary pads from the shop owner, but now I can go and buy them myself. There is absolutely no shame in that,” says the young woman.

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The number of campaign engagements is still too low for tangible social change to occur. But what gives Jaglan hope are the men who have been convinced by the campaign, who have become his new supporters like Zubair Ahmed.

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This barber encouraged his wife to set the schedule. He told her that she could hang it on any door she chose in their home.

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Today Zubair launched a message of support for both men and women.

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“Women shouldn’t be stressed while menstruating,” she says. “A woman shouldn’t care what someone else might think while she is suffering in silence.”

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