On the Menstrual Hygiene Day (May 28), campaigns and organisations are amplifying efforts to advocate even more vociferously for the adequate redressal of menstrual health challenges. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India has asked the Central Government to frame a model policy on menstrual leave. This is a watershed moment for addressing menstrual health as a fundamental human right rather than “women’s personal issue.” The order comes in light of the millions of menstruators in the country who still face discrimination, manage menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) with inadequate infrastructure and encounter stigma that undermines the constitutional rights.
By the Constitution of India, we, as citizens, irrespective of whether an individual is a person with uterus or not, are guaranteed that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds including sex (Article 15), Right to Life and Personal Liberty which includes Right to Dignity (Article 21) is also envisaged in the Constitution along with the Right to Education (Article 21 A)- all of which implicitly support menstrual health and hygiene(MHH) rights. However, there are myriads of systemic inequities, including social and cultural taboos and stigma, that undermine these principles.
India is a signatory to multiple international human rights frameworks that should protect menstrual rights -- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which establishes the right to dignity (Article 1), health (Article 25) and education (Article 26), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which India has committed to achieving by 2030.Yet, menstrual health remains inadequately addressed because there is a stark gap between the Constitutional Rights as well as international obligations India is committed to upholdvis-à-vis lived realities of menstruators on the ground.
Reflecting on my campaigning journey of over four years since launching the menstrual awareness and equity campaign, Alharh, in Bhagalpur, Bihar in December 2019, I have seen our humble youth-led initiative steadily grow to reach nearly 4000 people. Yet, even today, the voices from the ground remain dishearteningly similar: a tale of shame and stigma that represents clear violations of fundamental rights.
During one of our community events, “KhullamKhulla Baat Karenge”, silence spoke louder than those who actually spoke. Fourteen-year-old Khushi confessed that she kept mum at the event because she was too shy to speak about periods in public. However, she listened. Weeks later, she volunteered at the campaign, mentioning: “Since that day, I feel compelled to notice the discrimination we face, even within our own homes simply because we menstruate.” Inspired to break taboos within her own home, she deliberately entered her kitchen, a space she was not ‘allowed’ to enter during her menstrual days and touched the pickle. This small but significant act empowered her tremendously. Nervous yet determined, she also sent pictures of her holding sanitary pads as an attempt to normalize the stigmatized and the unspeakable. This was no small change.
Before launching Alharh, we encountered shocking resistance -- “This issue is very ‘personal’ and must not be made public.” This mindset reflects the widespread attitude that menstruators must silently endure discriminatory practices. In an awareness session at a local convent school, students remained silent when first asked about menstruation. By the end of the hour-long session, a student courageously stood up and asked, “You have been constantly telling us that periods are normal and natural. Then, why am I not allowed to touch anything in the place of worship at home when I am bleeding?” Such practices do tend to strip a menstruating individual’s right to dignity and of course, bodily autonomy.
Another student exclaimed: “I have not heard the word ‘periods’ spoken so loudly and so many times ever till now. It gives me the confidence to talk more freely about it.” These utterances spoke of the deep-seated conditioning and also that interventions can still change it.
These experiences are not isolated. More alarming conditions exist in peri-urban areas. In theMusahar community in Bhagalpur who reside in the outskirts, women reported the use of dirty rags for menstrual absorption. Such testimonialsdemonstrate clear but unrecognized violation of the fundamental rights.
We have existing national policies and programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP, 2008), the Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS, 2011) under Swachh Bharat Mission and Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK, 2014) where subsidised sanitary pads should be made available to adolescent girls and adequate Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities ought to be provided. Non-school-going adolescents mostly remain outside the purview of these initiatives while menstruators suffering from health conditions like dysmenorrhoea or endometriosis face doubled stigma and dismissal since these issues are not considered within the policy framework yet.
As we pride ourselves in constituting a socialist and secular nation which secures social, economic and political justice, liberty and equality and assures the dignity of all individuals, it is only fair to consider menstruators in general, those with disabilities too as well as those in disaster-prone regions and conflict zones who experience acute distress during displacement. Even the needs of menstruating individuals outside the gender binary are still not a part of our state-led interventions.
Research has established important connections between sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and menstrual health and hygiene (MHH). It presents opportunities for more integrated policy approaches. Our field experiences suggest that this integration could be impactful.Research also shows that addressing MHH can enable progress across multiple SDGs but this potential remains largely untapped. This mirrors what we have observed in the field.
Through campus visits and discussions with students of a reputed government women’s college in Bhagalpur, we figured thatchallenges were not only psychological but also infrastructural. The usability of the toilets, that lacked the basic needs to manage menstruation: WASH facilities, was questionable. We collected nearly 100 testimonials from the college students documenting their urgent and pertinent need for the infrastructural support, to manage menstruation with dignity.One of the students explained, “We’d rather not drink water all day than use those toilets, periods or not.” We tried to highlight some of these local Menstrual Health and Hygiene(MHH) challenges, including socio-cultural stigma and taboo, in our documentary, Ashhudh.
As we envision Viksit Bharat@2047, when I look back at the ten-year-old student who found her voice to question menstrual taboos, the teenager who proudly holds up a sanitary pad in photographs and even the non-menstruating volunteers who now discuss periods with their peers, it becomes more clear than ever that menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) and menstrual dignity are about fundamental human rights. While India has made strides in menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) awareness, systemic challenges and pervasive stigma persist and need to be addressed.
As we mark another Menstrual Hygiene Day, it is imperative that we start to see menstrual health not as a ‘woman’s personal issue’ but from a rights-based approach. When menstruation is recognised not as a taboo but as a matter of fundamental rights, we will have taken as significant step towards true equality, liberty and dignity of all citizens.
(The author is the founder of Alharh, a menstrual awareness and equity campaign, and an Assistant Professor of English. An alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi, she also serves as an Impact Officer with the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community at the Gaya Hub addressing local challenges alongside fellow changemakers.)