CRY begins menstruation awareness campaign in BMC schools in Mumbai to break myths on period shaming

September 29, Mumbai, 2022: Discrimination against menstruating young women is quite common in India with periods considered to be taboo and associated with impurity. From an early age girls are socially programmed to live with the pain and fear, and are seldom allowed to seek help when in acute physical or mental discomfort due to periods – thanks to the aura of embarrassment that shrouds the topic.

To shun this culture of silence and help young girls fight ‘Period Shaming’, CRY - Child Rights and You recently launched its pan-India campaign #Let’s Talk About It! Period!  with an objective to address taboos around periods and help them understand menstruation better, so that they do not feel ashamed or embarrassed of bleeding, which is a but a natural physiological phenomenon.

In Mumbai, the campaign kickstarted its process by tying up 25 BMC schools to create awareness on the subject amongst young girls CRY volunteers in the past have always been working with underprivileged children from BMC schools, taking remedial classes and helping them with improving their learning outcomes. From our experience, adolescent girls still grapple with a lot taboos and myths associated with periods, the result of which sometimes is that they end up missing school. The restrictions on mobility and the notions of ‘purity’ that comes with periods adversely affects their confidence and self-esteem and in the long run can impact their development.   

Through these workshops, CRY aims to encourage adolescent girls to openly talk about periods as a normal body function instead of a topic that incites shame and embarrassment and at the same time address myths and taboos related to menstruation and raise awareness about the facts.

The workshop focuses on mental, emotional and physical facets creating awareness about the harmful socio-cultural myths and practices related to menstruation. Volunteers are engaged in discussions and games to develop positive body image and explain how gender discrimination plays a large role in creating a negative impact on girls’ health, self-image, and overall development.

Elaborating on the objective of the campaign, Kreeanne Rabadi, Regional Director, CRY – West said that the aim of the campaign is to encourage adolescent girls to openly talk about periods as a normal body function instead of a subject that incites shame and embarrassment.

“CRY has been working with various stakeholders on Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHM) for nearly a decade. This campaign is an organic extension of our strong focus on addressing various issues that deter young girls and women from accessing MHM,” she said.

“Historically, there is a culture of silence and social stigma attached to periods. We hope through this initiative we can demystify myths, change attitudes and build knowledge on menstruation. The aim is to help young girls, especially in underprivileged communities, break away from the age old shackles of period shaming so that they can focus on taking care of their health, access menstrual hygiene with freedom, and live with dignity,” she said.

We are happy to partner with CRY for this wonderful initiative to empower the girl child. The Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika has always been at the forefront of providing knowledge based education. Awareness about menstruation is a subject that needs to be addressed right from school level as many a times adolescent girls often miss school because of this. We are happy that an organization like CRY which has been at the forefront of child rights in India has taken up this task,” said Mr. Rajesh Kankal, Education Officer (Dy. Director Education Grade), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

About the Period Shame Campaign

Though the primary target group of the three month-long campaign are girls within the age group of 10-17 years, the secondary audience includes adolescent boys, family members and the community members. The campaign will culminate on the International Girl Child Day (11^th October, 2022).  As part of the campaign, CRY has also undertaken a survey among girls within its intervention areas – to assess their levels of understanding, knowledge, attitude, and practice when it comes to managing menstrual health and hygiene, and to assess the myths, misconceptions and restrictions practiced by girls during menstruation. The survey will be conducted among 4000+ respondents across the rural and urban intervention areas in eight states, namely West Bengal, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

The campaign further aims at orientation and capacity building of all concerned stakeholders on adolescent hygiene and management of MHH. Other advocacy initiatives under the campaign include:

·         Incorporating/Institutionalizing components related to best practices of adolescent health and hygiene into monthly VHSNDs, and developing in-depth understanding of the gaps for larger advocacy

·         Advocacy at the Panchayat (in the rural contexts) and Ward (in the urban set ups) levels towards ensuring functionality of toilets and availability of water

·         Advocacy with the concerned stakeholders (e.g. the Department of Health and others) towards free distribution and seamless access of sanitary products, both at the state and the union level and raising voice for adequate public provisioning towards the same.

To know more about the campaign and to sign the pledge, please visit https://www.cry.org/lets-talk-about-periods/?utm_source=social&utm_content=period-shame-sm