Menstrual Health and Hygiene: Creating Awareness and Cultural Sensitivity

~ Project proposal by Dr. Beloo Mehra

Background

Menstruation is a natural biological process that women undergo during a major period of their lives. Because of its connection with fertility and pregnancy, menstruation is closely linked with womanhood suggesting some of the fundamental differences between men and women at many levels including physical, emotional and psychological. It is no wonder then that over the ages, menstruation and related practices have figured significantly in the evolving perceptions of different societies and cultures across the world toward women, man-woman relationships, and the place and role of women in society as a whole.

A Great Push to Promote Menstrual Hygiene and Health

In the past few years, promoting menstrual hygiene and health, especially among the girls and women in developing countries, has suddenly become an ‘in-thing.’ In addition to the campaigns being led by various NGOs, CSRs, and other social agencies, the United Nations too has been supporting this important cause. Given that menstrual health is often closely connected with not only the reproductive health but overall sense of well-being of girls and women, any well-meaning effort to promote menstrual health is welcome because it is a step toward improving overall public health in the society.

Uncovering the Assumptions and Misperceptions, Contextualising the Work

At the same time, it is equally important to situate these efforts to promote menstrual health and hygiene in the appropriate cultural and sociological contexts. For example, behind many of the programmes there is an underlying assumption that girls and women in developing countries, particularly India, generally have poor menstrual health often resulting from lack of proper education, lack of availability of menstrual hygiene products, and the continued use of several non-scientific traditional menstrual practices.

Several comparative research studies, in fact, indicate that this is not the case. Some field studies have also revealed that often the use of traditional menstrual hygiene practices by girls and women in many parts of rural India not only makes much greater sense for various reasons but also does not really have any adverse effect on the overall menstrual health.

Additionally, many of the campaigns to promote menstrual health are also based on an assumption that most girls and women in traditional societies such as India have to suffer many restrictions because of several cultural beliefs and practices related to menstruation. There is a tendency to put down certain cultures and religions on the basis of such assumptions and preconceived biases resulting from either lack of proper cultural sensitivity and awareness or simply a disinterest to study deeper the reasons behind some of the cultural beliefs and practices related to menstruation.

For example, in the recent times, menstruation has been in the middle of the controversy surrounding the issues of temple entry, gender equality, etc. Such controversies which are often the result of incorrect or incomplete knowledge about various cultural practices and their evolution over time, generally create more confusion surrounding the issue and often leads many people, both men and women, to feel a sense of alienation and disconnect from their cultural and religious backgrounds.

Need to Develop a Holistic Awareness and Cultural Sensitivity

We believe that while it is important to discuss and highlight various issues related to menstrual health and hygiene in India, the conversations surrounding the topic must happen at a deeper level. Also, there is a great need to promote a deeper and holistic awareness as well as a greater cultural sensitivity on various aspects related to menstruation, instead of reducing the entire effort to promoting certain menstrual hygiene products.

It is no surprise that today many young Indians, in their zeal to ape everything Western and confusing Westernisation with modernity, feel a sense of strong disconnect from their cultural backgrounds. Much of the ignorance exists simply because our present ‘modern’ education has conditioned us to think that only a materialistic-rationalistic view toward life, identity, health, gender, individualism, society, culture, religion, etc. can be a modern and hence universally generalizable view. As a result, every other ‘cultural’ or ‘traditional’ view toward any of these things is considered just some ‘localised’ variant, not at all relevant for our modern times and contexts.

It is important to address such misconceptions if we wish to prevent further cultural-uprooted-ness among younger generations of Indians.

Project Objectives

To promote a deeper awareness and cultivate a greater cultural sensitivity toward various issues related to menstruation. It will give the learners a deeper psychological understanding of menstruation and its relation with womanhood and overall sense of identity and self-worth. Insights from Yogic and Ayurvedic traditions to be given special focus.
To help learners move away from a superficial and sensationalist view toward the sensitive topic of menstruation and menstrual health, by encouraging open-minded conversations and through study of various aspects related to this topic.
To facilitate among the learners a deeper examination of some of their own biases and wrong assumptions resulting from either misinformation or misperception or both.
By inculcating a deeper cultural sensitivity toward the topic of menstruation and related areas, to facilitate the self-development of the younger generations in order for them to exercise greater personal responsibility toward their role in creating a more conscious humanity.
To do a cross-cultural review of menstruation related beliefs, practices and customs will be presented. Learners will be encouraged to explore why it is important to first deeply examine and understand the essence of certain traditional practices and customs before beginning the conversation about how they can or should change over time.
To promote a deeper awareness and cultivate a greater awareness and sensitivity toward menstrual health and hygiene practices.
To address various practical topics related to menstrual health and hygiene practices, with a particular focus on insights from Ayurveda related to menstruation and common menstrual disorders.
To provide opportunities for students to critically evaluate some of the research done on various issues related to the overall menstrual health of women and girls in India.
To equip learners, especially women learners, with a specific knowledge and skill-based training which they can use for their future work if they choose to do so. Students will be given an opportunity to undergo basic training so that they are prepared to work in their local communities, and/or reach out to schools and colleges in their areas and promote the much-needed awareness about this significant public health issue.

Our Approach

To conduct thorough research on the topic by reviewing a large body of published scholarly and other literature on the topic.
To develop a cross-cultural understanding of the topic by researching how different cultural traditions throughout the world deal with the various issues related to menstruation and women’s identity and self-worth as connected with this.
To design short workshops to be offered at local schools and colleges.
To design semester long courses on the topic.
To design action-oriented training component for young female college students.

Our Work So Far…

Workshops conducted – see one report HERE.

Book Review – published HERE.

Semester-length soft core course designed by Dr. Beloo Mehra and approved by Board of Studies of Center for Women’s Studies, and Academic Council, Pondicherry University.