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Employees
hang just-washed donated cotton clothes that will be used to make cloth
sanitary napkins at non-profit organisation 'Goonj' (Echo) in New Delhi on
April 22, 2014
(AFP Photo/Sajjad Hussain)
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New Delhi
(AFP) - The latest commercial for Procter and Gamble's top-selling brand of
sanitary pads in India ticks all the usual boxes -- a young woman jogs happily
in pristine white trousers, before effortlessly winning a tennis tournament.
But unlike
most adverts of its ilk, this 30-second clip seeks to dispel the myths
surrounding women's periods in a country where deep-rooted social taboos around
menstruation still persist.
It ends
with the catchphrase "touch the pickle", a reference to the widely
held belief that a jar of pickle touched by a menstruating woman will spoil --
and an exhortation to young Indian women to reject such superstitions.
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A worker
measures a piece of cloth as she
makes cloth sanitary napkins at non-profit
organisation 'Goonj' (Echo) in New Delhi on
April 22, 2014 (AFP Photo/Sajjad
Hussain)
|
Procter and
Gamble, the US consumer goods giant behind some of the world's biggest brands,
said it was astonished to learn that such "primitive practices"
remained prevalent in modern-day India.
A survey by
the company and market researcher IPSOS showed that 59 percent of urban women
still follow their grandmothers' advice not to touch the earthenware jar of pickles
found in kitchens across India.
"Not
touching a jar of pickle because your body is undergoing a natural biological
process is nothing but laughable," a company spokeswoman told AFP.
The
practice stems from the belief -- still widely held in India -- that
menstruating women are "impure". In rural pockets, many are still made
to sleep separately and eat from plates set aside especially for them during
their periods.
Other
taboos include entering temples and watering plants like basil that are
considered holy.
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A worker
packs cloth sanitary napkins made
from donated clothing at non-profit
organisation
'Goonj' (Echo) in New Delhi on April 22,
2014 (AFP Photo/Sajjad
Hussain)
|
"The
myths get passed on from one generation to another without any
questioning," she told AFP.
"It's
got nothing to do with how educated people are. There is an inherent shame
which inhibits people from even talking about the taboos."
Encouraged
by the response to the website, Gupta has launched a comic book to help people
"overcome their own shame" and discuss menstruation openly.
Gupta said
she was motivated by her own experiences of growing up and the challenges she
faced as a teen.
"Although
I belonged to a very well-to-do family, we had to use discarded cloth during
periods, which we had to wash and reuse," she said.
"It
was not about affordability. It was because of the shame associated with buying
sanitary napkins."
Dispelling shame
A.
Muruganantham has made it his mission to dispel the shame surrounding
menstruation in India.
A school
dropout from a poor family in southern India, he invented a simple machine to
make cheap sanitary pads -- revolutionising menstrual health for rural women in
the process.
Muruganantham
was inspired by the realisation that lack of access to affordable sanitary
products meant his wife had to use dirty rags instead.
He went to
great lengths to test his invention, creating a fake uterus from a football
bladder by punching a couple of holes in it and filling it with goat's blood.
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A worker
sorts donated clothing that will be used to make cloth sanitary napkins at
non-profit organisation 'Goonj' (Echo) in New Delhi on April 22, 2014 (AFP
Photo/
Sajjad Hussain)
|
In his
course of his research, he came across some villages where menstruating women
were confined in a small room with no lights.
"While
many of these restrictions are not followed now, the basic idea of a woman
being impure is still deeply ingrained in the minds of people," he told
AFP.
"Some
10-15 women are cramped together in a small room. Food is thrown at them from
the door and they are forced to eat like dogs from one plate."
Both Gupta
and Muruganantham believe the myths can only be shattered through better
communication and awareness.
"It
sends shivers down the spine to think that some things have not changed in
India despite the progress we have made otherwise," said Muruganantham.
"We
have to bring the napkin out of the closet. We have to encourage women to speak
out loud 'yes I am having my periods, so what'?"
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Founder of
Indian sanitation charity Sulabh International
Bindeshwar
Pathak (C) demonstrates his low-cost two-pit toilet
technology
in New Delhi (AFP Sajjad Hussain)
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