Marilyn Thipthorpe

My title might make you think of a grotesque murder or a story of sick abuse and torture but no, it is not. It’s not a story to be taken lightly either, it’s a story of thousands of women who face prejudice all over the world for the precise thing that makes them a divine creation- it’s the thing which allows them to procreate-yes it’s a woman’s menstrual cycle and what she faces at the hands of a hypocritical society that both praise her and kill her for it.
Menstrual taboos and restrictions are still practiced in dozens of countries across Asia and Africa. In certain Nepali communities girls are sent out to live in remote huts while others in India are forbidden to worship or even enter the kitchen. Even though in Bangladesh the issue is not taken to such a level, there still are religious and social prejudices which allow the topic to remain a taboo and so any hush-hush conversations remain hush-hush and serious health issues do not surface till late. But in comparison the situation is much better with local NGOs visiting villages and speaking of menstrual sanitation and providing women with sanitary napkins. Even advanced countries like Europe have their own reticence on the issue, and even though sanitary pads and tampons can be found in any dime and dollar store, they are still advertised as something that should be kept discreet.
Through this all, I believe “chhaupadi”, a practice in Nepal to be one of the more sever and damaging examples. Let’s take a look into ‘chhaupadi’ through the eyes of young Radhika*. For this young girl, dinner is served at 7 at the back of a shed far from her home, from a distance boiled rice will be thrown by her sister as though she is a dog groveling on the ground for the tiny morsels. She has her period and she’s impure. Touching is prohibited, touching a man more so. If she drink milk it is believed that the cow will run dry and God forbid she enter a place a worship, retribution will come in the guise of snakes or some other calamity!
She must stay in a secluded hut meant for the menstruating women of the village, when Radhika has company she is happy because it is a safeguard against the darkness, snakes and men of the village. Yes, these men who profess sickness at her supposed affliction during the day come to rape in a drunken stupor at night. Even though Nepal’s Supreme Court made the practice illegal in 2005, it still prevails. Did you know that each September in Nepal, Hindu women celebrate a festival known as Rishi Panchami? Women are given the day off nationwide to purify themselves of any sins they might have committed the previous year while menstruating! It’s not just the village women who perform this ceremony but women, educated women, from all over come to take part in the ritual cleansing of the mind and body with a final cleanse of dung, urine and milk; when asked why they simple reply that they must atone for their sins. It seems as though only churches are exempt from keeping women at bay during their periods. Temples and mosques discriminate routinely, with some like the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala going as far as to banning women from the age of 10 to 50 from entering their ‘holy’ doors. Prayar Gopalakrishnan, president of the temples board says that women will only be allowed to enter the temple when some device has been invented to find out if they have their periods on or not. And here I thought women were considered to be goddesses after all who held you and nourished you in her “dirty” womb for 9 month, right? A study by PlanIndia has found that over 23% of Indian girls dropped out of school permanently once they began menstruating, as the toilets were not hygienic or private enough.
In 2010, a new initiative began in Dhaka, Bangladesh known as HERproject run by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) which is a membership organization of 250 companies worldwide including Microsoft, Sony, and Pepsi etc. Dhaka was the perfect place to start as it is the focal point of many BSR companies, mainly those associated with the garments industry. Nazneen Huq, director of HERproject Bangladesh says that the need for proper education on hygiene is paramount in Bangladesh, as girls come from various rural areas at a young age to work in the cities. Volunteers of the project go out to various factories and spread awareness on nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and personal hygiene. Sarika* a factory worker says that before the HERproject was introduced at her garments factory in Ashulia, the women at her place would use bits of fabric known as “joot” to stem their monthly flow. “Joot” we bits of cloth swept up from the factory floors and kept for the women, after using these bit and pieces they were thrown down the drain. These unhealthy practices having caused many heath issues amongst the women and most would abstain from work for days on end until their cycle was over. Since the introduction of the HERproject, the women rarely take leave during their time of month and most of them now use locally made sanitary napkins provided at a cheap cost by the ACI Company. A HERproject costs around $5000-$7000 to set up, not a large amount for a factory owner considering that with the women taking less time off she will be able to perform better at her job
How far do we go before saying enough, is my question. Social and religious prejudices exist for a reason but does that reason stand for what it did in the past. Times are changing and so are the people, stronger influences and laws need to be put in place so that girls and women feel free to discuss issues and not be rebuked in return.
*names have been changed upon request to protect privacy .