In India, one-fourth of girls aged 10–19 miss school during their periods due to fear of stains on their uniforms, lack of changing rooms, and unavailability of water and sanitation facilities. A just, equal and fair society does not punish its daughters for menstruating.
Menstruation affects the education, health, dignity, mobility and confidence of crores of girls and women. In this context, the Delhi Government’s campaign, “Menstrual Health Matters: Periods Par Sahi Jaankari, Har Beti ki Pehli Taiyaari,” is a crucial and timely intervention.
Under the initiative, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has committed to the installation of sanitary pad vending machines across the city, along with regular maintenance and refilling. The campaign also includes menstrual health education in schools across Delhi, with boys being sensitised as part of the programme.
ASHA and Anganwadi workers will also be mobilised to spread awareness, and the campaign will be directly linked to awareness on HPV and cervical cancer. The initiative is designed as a sustained, long-term campaign rather than a one-day event.
The importance of these steps is underscored by the fact that, according to studies, one in three women suffers from a menstrual disorder, while one in four women and one in three adolescents experience heavy menstrual bleeding, which, if left untreated, often leads to anaemia.
Taken together, the “Menstrual Health Matters” campaign addresses women’s health in its entirety and refuses to disaggregate it into isolated components.
The Delhi Chief Minister has used her position to break one of the oldest silences in the country, assuring women that they are not alone and that there is no need to remain silent on menstruation.
The campaign also aligns with a recent Supreme Court of India ruling, which held that the right to menstrual health and access to menstrual hygiene management (MHM) facilities in educational institutions forms part of the fundamental right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.
“Dignity cannot be reduced to an abstract ideal; it must find expression in conditions that enable individuals to live without humiliation, exclusion, or avoidable suffering. For menstruating girl children, the inaccessibility of MHM measures subjects them to stigma, stereotyping, and humiliation,” a Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan observed in a judgment.
Stressing a girl child’s right to dignity and education, the Court said: “The absence of safe and hygienic menstrual management measures undermines dignified existence by compelling adolescent female students to either resort to absenteeism or adopt unsafe practices, or both, which violates the bodily autonomy of menstruating girl children.”
The Delhi Government’s campaign seeks to deliver precisely what has been recognised by the apex court.
The conversation on menstruation will no longer remain confined to families, as it has largely been handled privately until now.
Earlier, when women could not speak openly about the issue, it resulted in girls dropping out of school, women living with untreated anaemia, and cases of cancers being diagnosed too late.
The Delhi Chief Minister stated: “The Delhi government will create a modern, future-ready, and Viksit Delhi where every girl can attend school during her period without anxiety, every woman can go to work without fear or embarrassment, and every family can discuss menstrual health with scientific understanding.”