Bleeding with Pride: Menstrual Health and Mental Health

“There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.” – Maya Angelou

ChangeWarrior Tribe

Anshika Paliwal, Genesis Global School, Noida

Zurie Aboobacker, JBCN International School, Mumbai

Aishita Tekriwal, Ahmedabad International School

Lakshya Gupta, G.D.Goenka School, Delhi

Sanskriti Nanda, Mother Mary’s School, Delhi

Nayanika Pande,Thakur College, Mumbai

Aashima Keswani, The International School Bangalore

Inayat Sethi, Woodstock School, Uttarakhand

Dhakshina Shree              

Project Focus: UN SDG 3 & 5 

Inspiration:

Menstruation is a natural, normal biological process experienced by adolescent girls and women starting from menarche to menopause. On any given day, more than 800 million women between the ages of 15 and 49 are menstruating around the world. Despite the scale at which it happens, menstruation remains a taboo subject, shrouded in secrecy, suppressed by silence and shame. This leads to a lack of discussion on the subject across all levels, individual, family and community. The onset of puberty often brings limitation of mobility, isolation for many a girl or woman. Girls are asked to stay away from religious spaces, kitchens, kept in isolation, not allowed to play outside, or even go to school.  By spreading awareness through collective action, our Gender Advocates decided to empower young women.

The problem at hand:

Girls in India enter puberty with knowledge gaps and misconceptions about menstruation. This makes them unprepared to cope with it. This is because the adults around them, including parents and teachers, are themselves ill-informed and uncomfortable discussing sexuality, reproduction and menstruation. The myths and beliefs are passed on from one generation to the other. Adult women may themselves not be aware of good hygienic practices and pass on cultural taboos and restrictions to be observed. 71% of girls’ report having no knowledge of menstruation before their first period. Girls often turn to their mothers for information and support, but 70% of mothers consider menstruation “dirty,” further perpetuating taboos. There is a substantial knowledge gap among the girls regarding the origins of menstrual blood. In the meta-analysis, only about 23% of the girls knew that the uterus is the source of bleeding, and approximately half (55%) considered menstruation normal. 

“I know how bad it feels when you can’t talk about what you are feeling knowing that everyone knows that menstruation is not a problem. I guess that every women at some time must have felt that she has to lie that ‘she is well’ even when she is feeling terrible pain inside. I want to make a little effort in normalizing having a Talk on periods so that no girl hesitates to tell anyone that she is on her periods and is not burdened with illogical taboos. I want to ensure that every girl knows the best for her and feels confident to talk on periods.” – Sanskriti Nanda

Team-storming to Action Plan

Here’s how the project panned out through a series of steps:

1) Guest Session: The Gender Advocates got acquainted with concepts related to menstrual health and mental health through a session by Ms Nayonika from VOICE 4 Girls, an NGO that works with adolescent, marginalized girls and boys in India and equips them with critical knowledge and life skills. .

2) Preparing for the Fieldwork: Based on the information and insights they gathered from the guest session, the Gender Advocates came up with content to present for the fieldwork session. They decided on each other’s roles and solved the obstacles that they faced as a team. They prepared an interesting power point presentation in which they added eye-catching images, relatable videos and certain activities to get acquainted with the young women.

3) Fieldwork: For the fieldwork the Gender Advocates collaborated with Kshamata and spread awareness to girls of the age group 16-20 years, about menstrual health and mental health. They were asked to share their experience about periods and the restrictions they have faced. The Gender Advocates also shared information on the biological process of  menstruation and certain health issues caused by lack of hygiene during periods and their early symptoms. They also suggested the young girls yoga and breathing exercise to make periods more manageable. 

4) Reflection Session: After the workshop, the Gender Advocates collectively expressed their feelings and their takeaways from the previous sessions. They reflected upon the sessions and  answered some interesting questions. They also compiled a report of all the activities, documenting our experiences and thoughts.

5) Comic Strips: In order to make learning about these heavy concepts more fun and interactive, the Gender Advocates created comic strips which showcased scenarios about taboos on menstrual health and how those obstacles are solved by them. 

Identified Constraints:

The Gender Advocates faced various challenges and obstacles throughout the project and learned how to overcome these barriers.

• Nature of the Topic: The major obstacle the Gender Advocates faced was an initial nervousness as it was their first time interacting with women who had experienced much trauma in their lives. It was difficult for them to face and  talk in a sensitive manner without triggering them but with the proper guidance and support from our mentor we were able to overcome it.

• Interaction: It was initially difficult for the Gender Advocates to ensure that they were being friendly with them rather than just imposing this knowledge on them and making them feel uncomfortable. But eventually, the women opened up and started sharing their experiences without hesitating. 

• Language Fluency: Language barrier was also a main problem as the Gender Advocates have a habit of talking in English unlike the young women who were fluent in Hindi, but they overcame it by preparing  notes beforehand. 

• Online Mode of Communication: Since the workshop was organized via an online meeting, there were some unfortunate technical issues that arose. There was also the gradual loss of interest in the audience due to the online aspect. We tried to mitigate this by incorporating activities and real-life scenarios in our presentation and maintaining a cheery and active tone throughout the session.

Project Impact:

Women can fight against cultural taboos if they know the biology behind menstruation,  get proper information about menstrual hygiene and management, and understand their rights. The Gender Advocates were able to share the reality of periods such as the biological process involved with it, different diseases associated with lack of hygiene and awareness of periods and how to overcome them with the young women. They motivated the women to share the knowledge they have received with their friends and with those who believe in the misconceptions associated with menstruation, and hence the impact can go into a larger population of young women. Many women shared the problems they faced during periods involving emotional, mental or physical problems to which they were able to give suggestions like consulting a doctor or doing natural remedies like yoga. Hence, this is a small step taken by the Gender Advocates which will help a lot of women to cope up with the societal pressure put on them because of menstruation. 

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