WUNRN
INDIA - MENSTRUATION TABOO PUTS 300
MILLION + WOMEN & GIRLS AT RISK - ISSUES OF HEALTH, HYGIENE, RIGHTS
By Julie Mollins – February 11,
2013
At least 23 percent of girls in
“From a taboo standpoint they are ostracised – it’s an awkward situation to be
in if you are having your monthly period and you simply do not want to be seen
by others because they may perceive you as either dirty or unhygienic in some
way,” said Chris Williams, executive director of WSSCC.
“It touches on human rights and equity. It touches on issues of preventative
health and positive health outcomes,” he told AlertNet.
Many women and girls in India are forced to use such materials as old rags,
husks, dried leaves, grass, ash, sand or newspapers every month because they
lack access to essential sanitary products, according to WSSCC, which works to
achieve sustainable water supply, sanitation and hygiene worldwide.
Taboos about menstruation are compounded by a lack of proper sanitation in
The taboo is related to a very complex web of issues, but the starting point is
an extremely patriarchal, hierarchical society responsible for the silence
around menstruation, said Archana Patkar, a programme manager with WSSCC.
“It’s quite strange because menstruation and a menstruating woman are
stigmatised, and then a woman becomes pregnant due to the menstrual cycle –
without which it’s not possible to bear a child – and it’s a celebration,”
Patkar told AlertNet, adding that the first step to reversing the taboo is to
break the silence.
“If we can actually have a single celebration from puberty to motherhood and
therefore this issue becomes an issue of pride rather than shame, then all the
psychological burden and the trauma associated with the silence slowly starts
being chipped at and will in time die away,” Patkar said.
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
In 2012, as part of its public education campaign, WSSCC helped organise
a Yatra, or roving carnival, in
During the carnival, WSSCC
interviewed 775 women and girls and held focus groups with some 12,000 women
and girls.
“It was amazing to discover
that 90 percent didn’t know what a menstrual period was before they had their
first one. They described to us the fear associated with it – they didn’t know
what was happening.”
The problem is big in any poor area – urban or rural – in any area where people
are so poor they cannot cope with daily survival demands, Patkar said, adding
that WSSCC plans to adapt public education programmes to suit different
menstruation-related taboos in other parts of the world.
DEVELOPMENT INDICATOR ON GENDER
WSSCC successfully lobbied to have menstrual hygiene management recognised as
part of the future 2015 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on water, sanitation and
hygiene at a high-level meeting in The Hague in 2012, Williams said,
adding that it’s unlikely to be a goal in itself.
“More important than goals, I hope it would be an indicator of improved
sanitation because in that way international development organisations,
governments and NGOs would all be seeking to achieve sanitation by
demonstrating that they’ve improved menstrual hygiene management.”
As the most powerful cross-cutting indicator influencing gender, it should also
be included as a measurable indicator of progress on education, health and
workplace development goals, Patkar said.
Policymakers are in the process of mapping out SDGs to replace the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) – eight anti-poverty targets
agreed in 2000 by U.N. member states. At least 2.5 billion people
worldwide do not have proper sanitation facilities.
A meeting at U.N. headquarters in
“Beginning the conversation is the first step,” Williams said. “Once that
conversation is generated it lends itself to a wider discussion about improving
sanitation and hygiene generally and then dealing with safe waste management.”