Promoting menstrual health resources and employment in rural India

The Times of India, in their July 2018 edition chronicled that only 18% of women in India have access to sanitary hygiene. Menstruating women and girls in rural India cannot afford or access sanitary napkins and resort to homemade alternatives such as old cloth, rags, hay, sand or ash. These alternatives, are not only harmful, leading to increased vulnerability to infections and serious illness, but are ineffective and prevent girls and women from going to school, college or work.

The stigma surrounding menstruation, and girls and women’s sexual and reproductive health has resulted in low levels of knowledge and awareness regarding menstrual hygiene. Over 70% of girls in India report having no knowledge of menstruation before their first period, leading to preventable feelings of anxiety, guilt, and fear. Stigma also prevents women and girls who can afford to purchase available sanitary napkin products from doing so at traditionally male run markets where they often face judgment and shaming. The stigma and lack of access surrounding menstruation are related to larger societal norms that devalue women and girls, norms that must be changed in order for any program to be truly successful.

The Desai Foundation Trust (DFT) is implementing a transformative, women-led, community-based program to shift ingrained stigma around menstruation and reduce structural and cultural barriers to menstrual hygiene in rural areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. At the same time, the project aims at providing livelihood and education opportunities for women and girls. In partnership with local CBO’s, this program currently trains women in rural Gujarat, India to produce and sell retail quality, low-cost sanitary napkins (a DF-created brand Asani, or “with ease” in Gujarati &Hindi) and provides menstrual hygiene management (MHM) education in their communities. In addition to empowering girls and women to take control of their own health and livelihood, the project aims at removing the key barrier to education for girls and women’s participation in the workforce through increasing the access to menstrual hygiene education and products. At present, the program is being implemented in our three centers in Untdi, Bardoli, and Baruch catering to the needs of women and girls in over 250 villages. After our successful implementation in Gujarat, we are expanding the project to Rajasthan and Maharashtra in 2019.

We have positively impacted more than 13000 women and girls in our target regions. Currently, 19 (11+8) women are participating in our production unit and over 60 women are working as regular distributors. In addition to this, we have 130 women distributors who have the flexibility to participate in the program as per their needs. Women and girls in the targeted communities are aware of their rights as women, have a heightened sense of dignity, and are financially independent. At the same time, our project has also contributed towards decreasing the number of girl dropouts from schools in the target area. Through our expansion plan, we want to serve other women and girls who are victims of stringent cultural norms that further hinder their development.