Over the last four weeks of running period of change campaign, we have addressed the many facets of menstruation in India. From Menstrual Hygiene management development, role of government and policy makers, taboos and myths surrounding periods in India, engaging with men, menstrual hygiene alternative products and related environmental issues, handling and disposal of menstrual waste to menstrual hygiene education and more. While it has been tremendously exciting and inspiring hearing your stories, we have gathered some critical questions that are essential to be answered for moving forward towards a #periodofchange. We will try and address these issues on May 28th as the world celebrates Menstrual Hygiene Day. These questions will range from concerns of women who want to shift to sustainable menstrual products but are reluctant or face problems, those of parents and teachers in addressing menstrual hygiene and of feminists and gender rights advocates who demand more freedom of choices and access for menstruators’ (women, transmen, anyone who menstruates).
The Menstrual Hygiene Day webinar will be hosted on May 28th, 4 – 5:30 pm IST. You can sign up to watch the webinar live and leave your questions on this link.
We have brought together fantastic bunch of people for this purpose. Here’s a brief about them:
Rushil Prakash
Rushil works with the Portfolio team at Dasra, and pro`vides hands‐on capacity building support to organizations to enable them to scale effectively. She has been working closely with Eco Femme, an Auroville‐based social enterprise that promotes healthy, dignified and eco‐positive menstrual management. Before joining Dasra, Rushil worked in Mumbai and London for the investment bank Nomura, working with heads of businesses on high priority strategic projects and business planning. Rushil graduated from Lady Shri Ram College for Women in New Delhi, with a BA (Honours) degree in Mathematics.
Aravinda Pillalamarri
Aravinda Pillalamarri works with the Association for India’s Development. Her articles on education, environment, food and gender have appeared in Teacher Plus, The Alternative, India Together, The Hindu and other publications. She blogs about peace, justice and sustainability on the home front at AskAmma.
Divya Narayanan
Divya is a Public Health professional working in community based research and implementation for the past 4 years. She has a Masters Degree in Public Health and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Rights. She has previously worked for UNICEF projects and Community based projects in family planning and sanitation. She has also worked with the India Water Portal writing stories on water, health, sanitation and pollution in South India. Currently, based in Chennai, she is the coordinator for the ‘Healthy Energy Initiative’ in India. This initiative works towards mobilizing the health sector in advocating for a move away from fossil fuel based energy.
Alyssa Newlon
Alyssa has been working in the social development sector for ten years, specifically in the areas of education and gender equality. In the United States, Alyssa worked with local organizations OurVoice, Helpmate, and NC Stop to fund-raise, coordinate volunteers, and raise awareness towards creating positive and inclusive spaces for gender expression and civil rights. Since moving to India in the start of 2014, she has worked first with iMerit and Anudip in Kolkata to provide life-skills and employability training to students from rural backgrounds, and now for Milaan Be The Change to provide girls from marginalized communities with holistic and empowering education
Bhavana Nissima
Bhavana works as a communication consultant and writer. She is active as a digital humanitarian volunteer for VOICE and an Earth-activist, supports processes and policies that honor and preserve Earth’s heritage. She blogs at http://theearthwoman.com/. You can find her on twitter @tw_bhav.
Richa Kaul Padte
Richa is a writer, editor and activist working on issues of sexuality, popular culture and digital rights. She writes at richakaulpadte.com and tweets @hirishitalkies
You can watch the online event live here on May 28, 4 pm onwards:
This post is part of Period Of Change, a 5-week campaign organized by The Kachra Projectalong with Earth&us that aims to mobilize people (both men and women) around menstrual waste as a starting point to lobby for change in current practices in MH waste management.
Sign the petition to amend Draft Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2015 referred to as MSW Rules 2015 be amended for proper management of absorbent hygiene product waste (which includes menstrual hygiene waste).
In this Period of Change, hygienic sustainable menstruation for all can be ensured by:
