Tag: mentrual cups

The importance of menstrual cups

Many girls of the rural areas don’t attend school during their menstruation because of the stigma attached to it and the unavailability of proper supplies. The issue of affordability and privacy in the rural areas can be resolved through availability of better alternatives to sanitary pads. One very good option for the latter is using menstrual cups. The pros of using such a cup are as follows –

  1.  These cups are reusable and can be used for 3-4 years if maintained with good hygiene.
  2.  Menstrual cups are also very environment friendly unlike pads as they are mostly made of silicon, rubber or latex , unlike sanitary pads, which are made of plastic and can only be used once. On an average, a woman utilizes 3,500 sanitary pads throughout her lifetime. That, alone, is enough to suggest how much of money and resources we would be saving if we shifted to using menstrual cups.
  3. They prevent discomfort and leakage while walking and sitting as well.  If placed righteously, menstrual cups can be a safer options for school going girls as it would provide them will ease while doing activities and resolve their fear of leakage in school.
  4. Menstrual cups also prove out to be the best alternative because they are a one-time investment. In rural areas, regular supply of sanitary pads is a big issue. In this scenario, menstrual cups can persist for a much longer time.
The current state of India in regard to using menstrual cups
  1. Although India is a progressive country, the mentality of some people of the rural area refuses to change. In some households, it is a myth that wearing a menstrual cup can lead to the breakage of the “hymen” of a girl. Hymen is a tissue while surrounds the entrance of the uterus of a girl. The condition of the hymen is heavily linked to the honor of the family since they consider it as a proof of her “purity”.
  2. Menstrual cups are still not available in almost any of the chemist shops in India in the urban areas only, let alone the rural areas. As of now, menstrual cups can only be ordered online, which the people from the rural area don’t have the access to.
  3. There are still a lot of myths in the society surrounding the usage of menstrual cups with regards to safety and health which need to be debunked as soon as possible!
  4. Menstrual cups and other period supplies are still not a part of the period education which is imparted in schools. The girls need to be made aware of the mere existence of these products firsthand.
Conclusion

If more awareness is raised about the affordable alternatives to sanitary pads and about periods in general, we can succeed in finishing the problem of period poverty and the stigma that periods make you impure, in this country. The education of the girls of our country shouldn’t continue to pay the price of this mindset and belief system !

The absenteeism of girl children from schools during their periods

According to research, 40% girls remain absent from their schools at the time of their menstruation. The statistics are even worse when we take only government schools into consideration. And these numbers are degrading day by day as the topic remains a big taboo in the parliament and in general households even till this date.

The root causes of this absenteeism
  1. Lack of awareness- The downfall of our literacy rate has been the root cause of this problem. It is very obvious that the households where the parents are illiterate engage in such practices. These belief systems are then passed on to the younger generations by them.
  2. Lack of proper hygiene products- More than 60% of women in India use cloth during their menstrual cycle. This is because either they don’t have access to sanitary pads (and cannot afford them) or they are not properly aware of the ill effects that can be caused by using cloth.
  3. Lack of privacy and cleanliness in schools- Unfortunately, most people in the rural areas still consider menstruation as impure and hence, talking about menstrual hygiene is still a massive taboo there. Some parents don’t send their daughters to school in the fear of invasion of her privacy while tackling her periods.
  4. Girls report substantial embarrassment and fear of teasing related to menstruation in the various interviews, and said that this, together with menstrual pain and lack of effective materials for menstrual hygiene management, led to their school absenteeism.

The school washrooms are also not considered a safe and clean space for the menstruating girls.

What can be done to get rid of this problem?

Although, the change that we can brought about would have been bigger if we would have gotten a chance to personally distribute these cups and raise awareness among the girls of the rural areas, but looking at the current scenario, there are other alternative techniques that we can adopt to make a change.

  1. Individual initiative and the chain following it- Through some appraisal, we can ask individuals to do their part towards our mission by telling them to talk to their house workers regarding the mentrual cups as they are a very affordable alternative to sanitary pads and that can make a big difference when combined as a whole. We can also request them to provide their female house workers with these cups, if possible,(since they don’t cost much) and ask them to give it a try. The house workers can then educate other ladies of her community for the same.
  2. Spark a dialogue- The social media platform is the most powerful tool to raise an argument regarding an issue. But apart from raising awareness, we can launch petitions to make sanitary pads tax free and accessible to all.
  3. Busting the myths through our articles and posts- Lastly, we can educate people more about the stereotypes surrounding the usage of menstrual cups and the menstrual cycle in general.

Also, menstrual cups should be used with good care as, if mishandled, they can be the cause of many diseases down there. Therefore, people need to be advised about which type of cup is to be used and how to handle it in a way which prevents it from spreading infectious diseases.  

Our main motive shall be to raise awareness as well as to experiment, and then, to spread more awareness about the latter. We shall also focus on finding better solutions which are viable for the issues which are being faced by the women of the rural areas in the long run. The aspiration should be grounded to making small changes from time to time if we really want to bring about a great revolution in this world one day!

“It’s never too late to start.”