BENGALURU: Every year, May 28 is observed as World Menstrual Hygiene Day, which marks a day to spread awareness and highlight the importance of menstrual hygiene. Meet Jyothi Hitnal, who has been working hard to spread awareness on the matter.
“My mother passed away two years after I got my periods. I did not have anyone to talk about my struggle. As my father could not provide me any support, I had to go handle the situation on my own,” she said.
Now that Hitnal is well aware of the biological process, she spends a good amount of her time researching the same. “I am pursuing my PhD in Social Construct Around Menstruation for seven months,” she added.
Hitnal is also a curriculum development coordinator at Sukhibhava Foundation, which is a social enterprise working with marginalised women and adolescent girls and empowers them through access to healthy menstrual practices. “With a team of 20 people, we have conducted researches. One of them tests the knowledge of men on menstruation. About 60-70 per cent of men responded saying they shouldn’t concern themselves over the matter and that only woman should care about it. In rural families, husbands are the bread earners and the lack of knowledge prevents them from buying sanitary napkins for their wives,” she explained.
“Once I approached a few youths to talk about menstruation. They thought women leak blue blood every month. This shows the awareness people have,” she added. Hitnal and her team have been spreading awareness, in both rural and urban Bengaluru. “About 70 per cent of women in India say that their family cannot afford to buy sanitary napkins. In 2012, 40 per cent of government schools did not have a functioning common toilet and another 40 per cent lacked separate toilets for girls,” she said. She further added that 71 per cent of girls in India report of having no knowledge about menstruation before they enter puberty.
“We believe that women should take charge of menstrual hygiene by understanding their body. So far, we have worked with more than 17,000 women and adolescent girls in India, to create awareness among them,” she said. She added that they have started an awareness campaign called ‘It’s Time To Break The Silence’ on Whatsapp and Facebook. “Since the 25th of this month, I have been making calls to women, asking them questions regarding menstruation. With the responses I have received, I made posters, which I try to circulate,” she said.