menstrual hygiene : a manmade curse

Talking about India there are about 6 lakhs villages in our country which leads to Mohalla and tolas in crores and consists of about 70 percent of the total population.[i]on every 1000 male there is about 949 females in the rural India. in that 949 females there are about 23% of females who menstruate. Menstruation and menstrual practices had to face in this modern era   many types of restrictions ranging from social to religious. These things create a big hurdle in proper management of maintain menstrual hygiene. in rural areas due to girls are not prepared and not having knowledge about the   menstruation they face many problems and challenges at many places where they work or where they study. While researching , I come to know  that few, non- accurate, or half completed  information  about menstruation is a great hurdle  in the way of personal and menstrual hygiene in the rural areas In villages females do not assess the sanitary pads and don’t have much knowledge about that. So, they mostly depend  on reusable cloth pads which they wash and use again In fact they feel comfortable in that .in spite of many developments in the field of water and sanitation in the rural areas women’s can be seen not maintaining the menstrual hygiene in a better manner . Women handle menstruation in other way when they are in or out the house; in homes, they dispose of menstrual waste in domestic wastes and in public toilets and simply dispose that by flushing them in the toilets without knowing that could result in choking which is a big case of being illiterate. So, educating them about the consequences of the environmental hazards and the diseases associated with it. enforcing of new techniques like incineration can help to control the waste. and, a drive should be created to focus the use of reusable sanitary things or the natural sanitary products created from materials like banana fibre, bamboo fibre, sea sponges, water hyacinth, and so on.

CHALLENGES: THE RURAL INDIA WITH REGARD TO THE MENSTRUAL HYGIENE HAS TO GO WITH SEVERAL CHALLENGES

Poverty : in villages there are lots of people who don’t have money to fed up two time meal to their family so we can think that from where they can think about the providing sanitary napkins to the mensuration member of the family that’s why the most of the females in the rural India opt for the dirty used clothes which is much harmful and is unhygienic in the nature but that is harsh reality that they could afford the branded sanitary napkins which might cost them more than having a meal in a day.

Illiteracy: in the rural India there is hardly any one which can teach and talk about the subject matter menstrual hygiene if we talk about the percentage that how many girl get a high school level education it will bring our administration and government in to a tough discussion which they boast about the development of the rural area .

Culture and beliefs: our diverse culture and the rural background can be a strong reason for the failure in this approach as we learn things from our previous generation and our coming generation will learn from us. from the very beginning the society had been using and treated these things as the matter of shame and they feel shy while even discussing things which is related to the medical concern. in India there is strong belief that these things are counted in the list of dirty dealings and this practice is continued in the rural areas of our country where things have not been changed out of many centuries.

Administration failure : in spite of several government projects which has been running for the welfare and the development of the rural India the aim of real upliftment of these areas are still dream for many villagers in the country as most of the funds are out of reach for what they had been meant to utilize .

Poor practices /taboo: in villages there is old traditional system which is being followed from many years in fact centuries using the unhygienic dirty clothes can lead to several deadly disease.  use of cotton is also very common to stop the fluid in the villages coming towards the taboo the same is treated as an evil dirty things which not meant for discuss in the social platform and it could also be a reason to feel shy in these matter .

                                                    THE REALITY UNDER THE SURVEY:

In this section of my research paper I had tried to bring the real scenario about how the things are going into the village concerning menstrual hygiene. so, in the survey which had been conducted my me on the 15 females of the Sonkhar village, ramnagar, west champaran, Bihar on which 5 were adolescent. here I am going to tell about the experiences

In most of the cases the females were not ready to take part due to shyness. So, I managed 15 females for the survey .in this I had asked the several questions

Ques: you were ready or knowing that this could be happen to you when you got your first period?

12 out of the 15 females answered no to the question as most of them told that it was not known even from the parents and these things are treated so evil that none o them was informed from anybody.

Ques: How was the felling? did it hurt?

To this question all said yes as there was no information and the precautions were taken to handle the same. one Sangam Devi aged 28 said that it happened when she was serving the food in the bhoj (party) on the Holi eve then suddenly she felt pain in her abdomen and she couldn’t understand what was the fluid she felt around her private parts .it was sudden and surprising in the nature which makes them more uncomfortable.

Ques: Did you tell your mom / sister? how they reacted?

To this question 9 of them answered that they told their mother about the incident and her their mother in reply said that now you all are grown ups and it said that these things hurt a bit .3 out of them told to their sister elder to them and they reacted in the same manner like mother did.

Ques: What did you use in those days?

It was shocking to know that all 15 females which includes adolescents replied that it was clothes they use when they menstruate however 7 of them replied that since last few years, they had opted sanitary pads.

Ques: What is different in those days is it different from other days?

Meena Kumari a 17-year girl replied that these days are completely different as we are not allowed to enter in the kitchen, and we do not enter the worship room we are treated like we are unpure for these 5 days. most of them replied that due to pain and cramps whole body shivers and cause irritation.

Ques: Do you do anything to get relief from cramps like yoga?

Most of them answered no .one adolescent name aditi replied that she ate chocolates as it relives pain.

Ques: What things you want to appeal to the government/expect from government?

The majority answers that the cost of sanitary pads should be done so less that everyone could afford and as in our time there was no one to tell about these things so government should be creating a team for effective awareness about the menstrual hygie.