GRSJ224/Menstruation: Perspectives from India

Introduction

The menstrual cycle, menstruation or the period is the monthly series of changes a woman's body goes through in preparation for the possibility of pregnancy. Each month, one of the ovaries releases an egg — a process called ovulation. At the same time, hormonal changes prepare the uterus for pregnancy. If ovulation takes place and the egg is not fertilised, the lining of the uterus sheds through the vagina. This is known as the menstrual period. The beginning or initiation of menstruation usually starts around the age of 12 but a few years before or after is also completely normal. The end of menstruation is known as menopause and happens around the age of 45-55. [1]

Menstruation: Culture, Society and Taboos

Despite menstruation being a biological and completely natural process, there are a number of taboos surrounding it in culture and society. It can be considered "dirty", "impure" or "unclean". There are also a number of traditions and customs that religions have for and around menstruation. In India, specifically in Hinduism, there are a number of rules and regulations that women on their period are supposed to follow. These include not entering the kitchen, not conducting or sitting in on poojas or religious events as well as not touching pickled condiments.

Menstruation is considered shameful or embarrassing and leads to women having to hide being on their periods in many parts of the country. Often times, this even precludes participation in social, cultural and sporting events simply because of the associated secrecy and stigma around even the mention of the topic. [2]

Religion and Discrimination

Hinduism

Myths regarding menstruation in India go back to the the Vedic times and has been related to Lord Indra's slaying of Vitras. It has been declared in the Veda that guilt, of killing a brahmana-murder, appears every month as menstrual flow as women had taken upon themselves a part of Indra's guilt.

Women are prevented from participating in normal daily activities while menstruating. Women on their period are considered impure and unclean. They are not allowed to enter temples or kitchens and participate in religious activities. There are a number of other rules such as not having sex, wearing flowers and not touching other people. In some parts of India when a girl attains menarche, a ritual is conducted with a lavish feast celebrating the occasion. Traditional aspects of this ceremony include an isolation period where the girl is kept in a room where only women can enter and may have only a mat to eat and sleep on.

Some other myths are that nobody should touch a menstruating woman as she is dirty or impure, women or girls who are virgins should not use tampons, menstrual blood is magical, women cannot use the same bed as their husbands, they cannot water plants or go near the "tulsi" or basil plant that is considered holy, they have to use separate utensils and cannot wash their hair.

There is also a custom where women in some parts of the country are sent to special huts (or "Gaokors") to live in for the duration of their menstrual period. They usually lack kitchens, women are not allowed to cook and have to sleep on the floor with simply a thick sheet as a mattress. Girls tend to miss school and examinations, that leads to very few girls entering and completing high school. These women and girls have to live alone if there is no other menstruating woman at that time and the huts have temporary bathrooms made up of bamboo.

In 2018, The Supreme Court of India lifted the ban on women between the age of 10-50 from entering the holy Sabrimala Shrine. Women of that age group were not allowed to enter as they are of menstruating age. Activists argued that this violates the Constitution and is discrimination against women on all grounds. Many have expressed their views around the debate as to whether women must be allowed inside temples when they are menstruating.

Union Textiles Minister, Smriti Irani said, "I have no right as a current serving Cabinet Minister to comment on the Supreme Court verdict, but it is plain common sense: Would you take a sanitary napkin soaked in menstrual blood and walk into a friend’s home? You would not. And would you think it is respectful to do the same when you walk into a house of God? That is the difference. I have a right to pray and I don’t have a right to desecrate, and this must be recognised and respected. That is my personal opinion,”

In 2015, the Hindu temple had said that there would be a day when all women would be allowed to enter the temple provided there is a machine invented to check whether the woman is menstruating or not.

Islam

During menstruation, women are not supposed to pray. They do not fast either. They are considered unclean and a restriction that a woman on her period has is that she is not permitted to have sex. However, pilgrimages are allowed and they are respected during their period.

Sikhism

In Sikhism, menstruating women are not considered impure. They are allowed to pray and participate in other religious activities. It is made clear that menstruation is a God given process and it is completely biological. There are no restrictions or rules for a women during menstruation.

Christianity

There are not many rules and restrictions for women during their period in Christianity. Some parts of the religion do consider the blood impure but they rarely isolate the woman from the community.

As it states in Leviticus 15:19  

“When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.

Jainism

In Jainism, menstruation kills the microorganisms in the body making female bodies less nonviolent than the male body and therefore more prone to bad karma.

Therefore it is evident that the diversity of culture and several religious constructs in India have varied approaches to the topic of menstruation.

Menstrual Hygiene

Menstrual hygiene is an important issue that has implications for not just health but related sectors like education, given the impact it can have on the adolescent girl child. Many women in rural and semi urban areas have little or no access to clean and hygienic menstrual products, using ashes, husk, sawdust, leaves, rags and dirty clothes instead during menstruation.These rags are then buried or disposed off in various ways. These cloths must also be kept hidden away from the rest of the family further indicating the shame and taboo associated with menstruation. In some areas these rags or cloths must be washed only at night when others are asleep. There is also a lack of, or no access to toilets in many households and women often have to travel to use toilets or fields which makes them prone to infections and other assaults. Approximately 355 million Indian women and girls struggle during their period due to lack of access to toilets, sanitary pads and other such required products. There is a high risk of reproductive tract infections resulting from this. Additionally, lack of safe and dignified spaces in schools for menstruating girls is a major reason for school-drop-outs contributing to worsening female literacy rates.

There are also significant differences in practicing menstrual and other related hygiene in rural and urban areas. According to one study that compared menstrual hygiene of adolescent girls in rural and urban areas in West Bengal, 36% girls in urban West Bengal were using home-made sanitary pads and reused them as compared to 54.88% in rural areas. There was also almost a 10% difference in satisfactory cleaning of external genitalia between urban and rural adolescent girls (The higher end being girls from urban West Bengal). There were also significant differences in personal hygiene practices.

Apart from personal hygiene, there is also a problem existing in the disposal of menstrual products. In a study conducted in rural India, all but one of the respondents used old cloth during menstruation and 25 reused the cloth. However, 16 disposed the cloth through their "Dhoby" or a person who washes clothes and 13 put it into a canal. There is considerable scope for educating and enhancing awareness for practising good menstrual hygiene through schools and community engagement programs. Menstrual hygiene management is a major topic that is being addressed through several school and community programs by both government as well as significant efforts by civil society organisations.

Inequities in Access to Menstrual Products

There are also significant differences in access to menstrual products especially between rural and urban India. Large proportions of rural women continue to use unhygienic sanitary products either because of unavailability or lack of funds to purchase these. Several women adopt unsanitary methods for menstrual hygiene management from the use/re-use of cloth to the use of sand, husk and paper. Despite increasing awareness of the need for adoption of hygienic menstrual management, poor access and availability prevents the adoption of such practices. The resultant havoc created sometimes by unwarranted urinary and reproductive tract infections causes unnecessary burden on health systems as well. There is therefore an urgent need to promote the manufacture and sale of low-cost sanitary pads. If such products can be made available at a low cost for all adolescent girls and young women, it would be bring tangible benefits both in the form of a better and healthier female population and increase in school enrolment and completion rates. A dual benefit can be ensured if such products can be made through women's self-help groups where besides encouraging the sale and use of such products, there is an opportunity for women's empowerment through self-sustaining income-generating enterprises. For instance, a self help group of ten tribal women in a rural village in Madhya Pradesh have started manufacturing and selling sanitary napkins despite opposition from the village.

Until very recently, there was a 12% tax on sanitary products that was scrapped after immense protests. The tax removal has made sanitary products a little more accessible but they are still largely unavailable or differing products are used in some parts of the country.

Activism

There has been a lot of activism surrounding menstruation and the taboos that accompany it in the country. For instance, the 12% tax on sanitary products was abolished after protests by women. The tax was referred to as "Lahu ka Lagaan" or "Blood Tax" indicating that a very natural and physiological process was being capitalised on and taxed.

Many men are trying to fight against menstrual taboos in India too. Some are: Tuhin Paul and his wife Aditi Gupta (have designed a Hindi comic to educate school girls about menstruation); Arunachalam Muruganantham (invented a machine to produce low cost sanitary napkins while facing an immense amount of stigma himself); Anshu Gupta (founder of Goonj, whose aim is to fight the taboo surrounding menstruation and also providing sanitary napkins to women); Kailash Brijwasi (founded a company called Uger that manufactures reusable cotton sanitary pads); Dhirendra Pratap Singh and Ameet Mehta (have founded menstruation friendly schools in Uttar Pradesh due to the fact that high school girls are unable to complete their education because schools may lack the infrastructure required for girls who menstruate)

In yet another campaign for menstruation related issues, students in colleges of New Delhi (starting with Jamia Milia Islamia university) followed German artist Elone's lead and covered various campus walls and trees with sanitary napkins that had messages on feminism and gender equality.

Therefore, being vocal about menstruation and related issues is becoming more and more common and is aiding the fight against the stigma, myths and taboos.

Padman

Padman, a Bollywood or Hindi cinema movie, starring prominent actors from the industry is about the real life story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social activist from the state of Tamil Nadu who invented a low cost sanitary pad making machine despite the stigma and opposition he faced. He was shocked when he discovered that his wife used and reused rags and newspapers during her menstrual cycle and started creating his own pads. The personal experience motivated him to evolve and develop an improvised low-cost technology for the manufacture of sanitary pads. He faced immense opposition and did not find women to test his products and therefore tested them himself using animal blood. He was jeered at and made fun of by the rest of his village and was ostracised by them. He ended up distributing his products for free to girls in a medical college for feedback.

Muruganantham succeeded in creating a pad making machine at low costs. This machine also generates jobs, is cost effective and his work has resulted in lessening the social stigma around this biological process. This is a classic example of dealing with a social issue through innovative strategies that can be accomplished and scaled up at a considerably low cost for the larger benefit of the population. The movie served as a vehicle to reduce some of the stigma and secrecy attached to a hitherto socially unacceptable issue. Today, there is at least a semblance of acceptance of the fact that menstruation is a completely normal biological process that women go through for a greater part of their reproductive years. It must therefore be accorded the due status in any dialogue relating to women's rights and not considered an issue to base discrimination on.