Nandini, a 13-year-old girl from Dindori, Madhya Pradesh, was playing in the backyard when she first got her period. Scared at the sight of blood, she ran to her mother. Knowing what had happened, her mother gave her a cloth to absorb the blood and asked her to not go to school until she was no longer bleeding.
Confused, Nandini cried at first, but later realised that her mother and sisters did the same every month as it was an essential part of ‘becoming a woman.’ Soon she started missing school in fear of staining her clothes, she feared being laughed at and eventually fell behind in her studies because of missing 4 days of lessons every month and dropped out of school due to the same reason. Sounds quite sad right?
Unfortunately, Nandini’s isn’t the only one. This is the story of almost 200 million females once they start menstruating.
1 out of 5 girls in India drop out of school due to a lack of period education and products. Reports also state that 7 out of 10 mothers do not fully understand the science of periods and find it ‘impure’, often passing this to their daughters.
With mothers being the first person young girls look up to for advice, having them disregard it as something dirty further creates resistance among the young girls, and they too; just like their mothers, start feeling embarrassed of a mere biological process. This leaves them with poor menstrual hygiene that further causes reproductive tract infections, eventually leading to pregnancy complications and myriad other diseases. This only highlights how important it is to educate mothers when it comes to periods so that they, in turn, can educate their daughters on menstrual hygiene and promote using sanitary pads during their monthly cycles.
Initiatives Encouraged By Whisper India
In order to create awareness among mothers, Whisper India through its recent campaign pledges to #KeepGirlsInSchool aims to reduce the overall dropout rate among young girls by delivering period education, providing access to menstrual products, and informing them about menstrual hygiene management.
The film released by the brand, ‘The Missing Chapter’ primarily encapsulates how lack of period education affects a 13-something-year-old’s school days. It showcases a young girl-Purvi, who starts missing her school due to periods, which is the case with 71% of girls in India.
However, upon understanding the reason behind her absence, two of her schoolmates built a project on the ‘menstrual cycle’ which they then take to Purvi’s house and explain the biology of periods so that the mother, in turn, can educate her daughters on menstrual hygiene and using sanitary pads. The film acts like a mirror, a reflection of our future.
Alongside these thought-provoking campaigns, Whisper India has been running its school and community programs, it has taken an on-ground effort for the last 3 decades and distributed free pads and menstrual education to over 10 crore girls and mothers in India.
Response the campaign has received
Mrunal Thakur, who has continued to share her support for the movement, said, “Menstrual education is so important to teach girls about their periods, their body and how to manage it. Whisper India is doing an incredible job with its #KeepGirlsInSchool Campaign, and I am proud to be associated with it. I have been using their products from the start and still remember the session I had in school where the Whisper team taught us about periods. It’s time to have open conversations about periods and create a world where menstruation is not a barrier to girls’ education and well-being.”
This empowering movement created by Whisper India proves to be a testament that more girls and women are increasingly using hygienic products and why this must not stop now.
This article is published in collaboration with Whisper India
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