Helping & Solving Menstrual Issues in Rural Areas

Menstruation is a natural process that occurs in the female body, but it can often be accompanied by uncomfortable or inconvenient symptoms, especially for those who lack access to menstrual hygiene products like sanitary pads. This issue is particularly prevalent in rural areas where access to sanitary products is limited or nonexistent.

Fortunately, organizations are taking action to solve this problem. By providing sanitary pads to women and girls in rural areas, these organizations are helping to alleviate the burden of menstruation and promote menstrual hygiene.

Access to menstrual hygiene products not only improves the physical comfort of women during their periods, but also contributes to their overall health and well-being. Without proper menstrual hygiene products, women may resort to using unsanitary materials like rags or leaves, increasing their risk of infection and disease.

In addition to providing menstrual hygiene products, these organizations are also raising awareness about menstruation and working to break down the stigma that surrounds it. By educating women and girls about menstrual hygiene and normalizing the conversation around menstruation, we can help to remove the shame and embarrassment that often prevent women from seeking the products and resources they need.

Ultimately, by providing menstrual hygiene products to women and girls in rural areas and working to break down the stigma around menstruation, we can help to ensure that all women have access to the products and resources they need to manage their periods with dignity and comfort.

Discrimination against menstruating women is widespread in India, where periods have long been a taboo and considered impure.

They are often excluded from social and religious events, denied entry into temples and shrines and even kept out of kitchens.

On the occasion of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, award winning photographer Niraj Gera attempts to de-stigmatise periods in this hard-hitting series called Sacred Stains.

Sanitary pads, an essential need for almost all adult women, have been placed in a non-essential tax bracket by the Indian government.

In a surprise move, the recently passed Goods and Services Tax bill – which brings all of India under a single tax rate for goods and services for the first time – placed sanitary pads in the lower middle 12% bracket.

The 12% number is ironic, because according to a 2011 study by AC Nielsen, only 12% of India’s 335 million adult women can afford sanitary pads.

A 12% tax on sanitary pads is an improvement from the earlier proposal of 18%, but comes as a shock since sindoor– the red powder applied to a married Hindu woman’s scalp, bangles and bindis (the dot motif used to adorn a woman’s forehead) – has been bracketed as “essential” and therefore exempt from tax.

Of the four tax brackets, the lowest 5% tax rate has been applied to items of mass consumption, while the highest of 28% to luxury items. Everything else is clubbed into the 12% and 15% brackets.