In today’s modern and advanced society, it’s important to provide information and educating girls about menstrual hygiene. As every month, millions of adolescent girls go through its pain, anxiety, discomfort, shame, isolation when the menstrual period arrives. In many low and middle-income families access to sanitary pads is not available, and girls often use other means which helps in absorbing the menstrual flow. The appropriate hygiene facilities are hardly available and are sustainable in some areas of India, like in rural areas where there is not much awareness and facilities available for girls.
Due to the absence of facilities or improper facilities available, many girls in rural areas are forced to miss their school during these days. They miss half of their educational opportunities. There are many stigmas and taboos associated with it, and due to this, menstrual is rarely discussed in the family or school. It’s often considered to be a shameful, dirty, female weakness, disease. But it’s not. In many communities, girls or women having menstrual are not allowed to enter the kitchen, places of worship etc.
The pain they endure during menstrual is sometimes intolerable, and sometimes there is a heavy flow of blood which results in consulting health professional sometimes. But they don’t because of the embarrassment, and the silence which is deep-rooted in the society towards this issue sometimes risk the lives of many girls and women.
Menstrual is a normal and regular event in every healthy adolescent girl’s life. Many drastic changes are required to encourage positive social norms and enact some behavioural change in the society regarding this issue. Global Menstrual Hygiene Day is celebrated on May 28th globally by various organizations to spread awareness among people regarding it.
Adolescent girls and women need the support of the government to provide them with adequate and proper facilities and infrastructure, access to affordable sanitary pads and at reasonable rates. Community workers, health workers, teachers play an important role in spreading awareness and educating girls about menstrual. All girls and boys also should be educated about menstrual and reproductive health to enable them to talk about it in a comfortable way.
IMPORTANCE OF MENSTRUAL EDUCATION
Following are the reasons for the importance of imparting menstrual education among girls and women-:
- Schools should conduct various seminars, campaigns, and awareness programs about menstrual education for both girls and boys. There are several girls boarding schools in Dehradun that provide proper guidance about menstrual hygiene.
- Hygiene related knowledge should be given importance, as it has a direct impact on health.
- The environment should be such which ensures, values, supports the ability to manage women and girls menstruation with dignity.
- It gives girls and women confidence to live their life in a normal way
- Education helps them to confront various myths and cultural superstitions courageously
- It enables women to realize that they are not impure
- With proper knowledge about menstrual hygiene, helps to ensure cleanliness
- Proper sanitation facilities should be provided by the school
As a community, we should take some initiatives to ensure that menstrual hygiene management is incorporated into water, sanitation, education about reproductive health provided to girls in schools from an early stage. By doing so, women and girls become more confident in handling their menstrual hygiene, enables them to stay at school to educate themselves more and enables them to have the future free from discrimination.
Poor sanitation facilities at school force girls to skip school during menstrual days which affects their ability to maintain proper hygiene and privacy. Unhygienic washrooms in school also prevent girls from skipping school. So, hygiene should be maintained in school for cleanliness.
Efforts have been made by the government and worldwide to empower, educate and engage country leaders, communities, families and adolescent girls and boys about menstruation to hygienically manage them. Enormous and important advances have been made in global child and adolescent health, maternal health and women’s rights etc. Now it’s time to finally abolish the absurd silence and shame that stop us from talking or discussing the menstrual issue among girls as it’s a just natural biological event. Menstruation is considered to be the sign of good health and should be normally talking about and celebrated among families, community and in school.