If you applauded Akshay Kumar for his heroics in Padman when he raised awareness on menstrual hygiene among Indian women, here is a chance to do your bit for the cause. All one needs to do is to pay for a menstrual cup from the website donatekart.com, which will be transferred to various NGOs and social enterprises for distribution among women/girls from remote areas of Bareilly and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Bokaro in Jharkhand.
The fundraising campaign initiated through collaboration between Mrida Group, a social enterprise, and Pee Safe, a personal hygiene start-up, will be carried for over a week, wherein any person can donate a menstrual cup. The usage of menstrual cups is thought to provide a more sustainable and economical way of personal hygiene, especially among women from poor, rural communities.
Post the distribution, a campaign will be carried out in the form of workshops in these villages in February-March on health and hygiene, the biology of menstruation and safe period practices. According to Mrida Group, which supports business models that cater to the uplifting of underserved, rural communities, the workshop aims to educate the women on the necessity of hygienic behaviour during menstruation. This includes providing the women with information about affordable, accessible and safe sanitary products.
“Health and hygiene are two of our focal areas in the rural communities that we operate in. Team Mrida has been conducting periodic workshops with rural women on issues that impact them the most and we are happy to be partnering with Pee Safe in introducing their products to rural women. We have been focusing on sustainable products and that is what the menstrual cup is: it eliminates monthly spends on sanitary products, alleviates the concern of disposal and is the most environment-friendly menstrual product in the market,” said Gurveen Sood, co-founder and director, Mrida Group.
Menstruation still a taboo
Despite widespread awareness initiatives, menstruation is still considered a taboo subject in India with just 12 per cent of all Indian women using sanitary pads, said Mrida Group. With little access to proper menstrual hygiene facilities, a large number of rural girls dropout of school on hitting puberty. Most rural women still use cloth or leaves during periods. They are either unaware of the products available or are unable to use them due to high costs, it said.