Does Anyone Consider that Menstrual Hygiene Matters?
Arju Afrin Kathy ।। Back in 2018, I watched the movie ‘PadMan’ where Akshay Kumar played the central role, a poor villager who was a questioner of the status-quos. His wife Gayatri, who believes ‘auraton ke liye sabsee bari beemari hein sharam’ was a constant user of grimy rags during the menstrual cycle as an alternative to sanitary pads. Seeing these, Akshay was seemed concerned about her health risks. In the village, the price of sanitary napkins was beyond their affordability. So, being desperate to mitigate his wife’s menstrual struggle Akshay, the machine man vowed that “Gayatri ke sharam ko sammaan main badalne ja raha hoon main” (I am going to convert Gayatri’s shame into pride) and started making sanitary napkins using plastic sheets, cotton, and a soft cloth. On-screen, Akshay was seen to work on breaking the superstitions and taboos regarding menstrual hide-and- seek throughout the village for the sake of actual empowerment of women. Throughout the movie, Akshay compared the importance of building menstrual awareness with complying with the pledges of ‘Raksha Bandhan’ (symbolically Hindu sisters of all ages tie an amulet called rakhi around the wrists of their brothers to protect them). I especially can remember a dialogue from the movie which Akshay delivered to the United Nations in a peculiar pidgin English – “Big Man, Strong Man, Not Making Country Strong…. Woman Strong, Mother Strong, Sister Strong, Then Country Strong…” In other words, men’s participation alone is not enough to make the country strong unless women are not uplifted.
I am not intended to review the ‘PadMan’ movie here. What matters to me is the message, the movie is carrying. According to the Bangladesh National Hygiene Baseline Survey 2014, only 10% of the students use disposable pads during menstruation and 86% of the students’ use old clothes or rags during their menstruation. Again, 89% of students store their menstrual cloth in a hidden place for repeated use. Whereas science says, usage of cloths and rags can lead to itching and discomfort if they are not cleaned and washed hygienically and if they are not sun-dried properly. Also, the use of dirty menstrual cloths can lead to the growth of bacteria resulting in painful urination, lower abdominal pain, back pain, fever, and even increases the risk of cervical cancer.
Now comes the question why our girls are using unhealthy alternatives instead of using sanitary pads? The reason behind using such unhealthy cloths or rags as absorbents during their periodic cycle is the price of sanitary napkins is beyond their affordability. Bangladesh National Hygiene Baseline Survey showed that absorbents like sanitary napkins from different manufacturing companies including Senora, Monalisa, Joya, etc. ranges from Tk 60 to 200 and only 10% of our females can afford to buy sanitary napkins for the maintenance of menstrual hygiene.
If we dive deep, there are many reasons behind the lofty prices of a sanitary napkin which is a fundamental necessity for half of the population. Generally, our domestic manufacturers require importing nine raw materials for producing a final napkin including pulp, air-laid, PE back sheet, silicone release paper, individual wrapper, adhesive tape, and others. Throughout this process, they are paying Regulatory Duty (RD), Supplementary Duty (SD), and government-imposed Advanced Income Tax (AIT) and Value Added Tax (VAT). For the sanitary napkins to become cheaper, the budget 2020-21 has proposed a cut in Customs Duty (CD) on import materials, which is insignificant.
A study detected that about 40% of surveyed girls were reported to miss school during menstruation whereas a study conducted in India found 14% of absences among girls due to menstruation (Dambhare et al., 2012). Whether we are prioritizing this as a problem or not is an important factor. There are countries like the United Kingdom where the parliament has approved a bill for providing free pads and tampons to end ‘period poverty’. I am not talking about freeing napkins since the feasibility is questioned. But reducing the price is just a matter of will, I believe. Even in our neighboring country India, the average price of a high-quality sanitary napkin is comparatively lower than in Bangladesh. As menstrual hygiene is directly connected with reproductive morbidity and sexual well-being of females, it is high time that the government’s concerned authority should come and play a role here to bring down the price of sanitary napkins.
A country once known as the biggest exporter of ‘Golden Fiber’ – Jute, is not getting entrepreneurs to become PadMan is disheartening to me!
(The views and opinions expressed by the writers are those of their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Feminist Factor)
