Period Poverty

Scotland has become the first nation in the world to legally protect the right to access free period products and has made period products free for all by passing the Period Products Act.

One of its central objectives is to “end the silence and stigma” that surrounds menstruation and also aims to remove “gendered barriers”. The bill aims to ensure that those who menstruate have “reasonably convenient” access to period products free of charge.

Period poverty is when those on low incomes can't afford, or access, suitable period products.

Development in Scotland

• Period poverty is defined as a circumstance that makes menstruation a “difficult experience” for women. These include homelessness, coercive, controlling, and violent relationships, and health conditions such as endometriosis. “Some trans people may also experience difficulties in accessing sanitary products".
• According to the Period Products Act, public institutions like schools, colleges, and universities as well as municipal governments are required to provide free access to a variety of period products in their restrooms.
• Scotland's local communities must work with each municipality to choose the optimum access point for menstruation products.

Accessibility:

• PickUpMyPeriod is a mobile phone software that directs users to the closest location where they can pick up period goods, such as their local library or community centre.
• Libraries, swimming pools, public gyms, community centres, town halls, pharmacies, and doctor's offices would all carry the period products.

State of Menstrual Hygiene in India

2011 research by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) found that just 13% of Indian girls are aware that menstruation occurs before menarche.

• 60% of girls skipped school because of their periods.
• 79% of menstruating women experienced low self-esteem, and 44% felt embarrassed and degraded because of the restrictions.
• Menstruation so negatively affects women's access to education, equality, and mother and child health.

National Family Health Survey 5

• Women aged 15 to 24 years who use period products.
• Ninety percent or more of women used period products in seventeen states and union territories (UTs).
• The percentage was 99% in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry.
• Seventy percent or less of women used period products in Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.
• Only Bihar reported a number that was less than 60%.
• Top three states where the proportion of women using period products increased from NFHS-4 to NFHS-5:
• Bihar: 90%
• Odisha: 72%
• Madhya Pradesh: 61%

Initiatives are taken by the Indian Government for Menstrual Hygiene

Shuchi Scheme.

• Teenage females are encouraged to practice good menstrual hygiene through the Shuchi Scheme.
• It was initially a Centrally-sponsored one that began in 2013–2014.
• However, the Center requested that States take up the program starting in 2015–16.

Menstrual Hygiene Program:

• In 2011, the Menstrual Hygiene Program will promote good menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls (10 to 19 years old) in rural parts of particular districts.

The SABLA program

• Initiated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

• It emphasizes diet, fitness, hygiene, and sexual and reproductive health (linked to rural mother and childcare centers).

National Rural Livelihood Mission

• Under this assistance is provided to small producers who make sanitary pads as well as self-help organizations.

Swachh Bharat Vidyalaya (SB:SV) and the Swachh Bharat Mission:

• Each educational institute has a separate restroom for girls and adequate sanitary provisions for girls.
• The Swachh Bharat Mission also includes control of menstrual hygiene.

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

• Developed guidelines for gender issues in sanitation to guarantee gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls with regard to sanitation.

• For adolescent girls and women, managing menstrual hygiene safely and effectively is a catalyst for healthier and more robust development.

National Guidelines for the Management of Menstrual Hygiene:

• The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation issued it in 2015.
• It aims to deal with every aspect of menstrual hygiene, including raising awareness, dealing with behaviour modification, creating a market for better hygiene products, capacity building, etc.

Way Forward

• The Indian government ought to adopt Scotland's strategy and make the historical goods accessible or offered at a fair discount.
• To increase access to affordable pads, the government might also support small-scale sanitary pad production facilities. This will also aid women by providing them with a source of income.
• The government must fund initiatives to promote public understanding of menstruation and menstrual hygiene, access to products that are safe, and effective water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure.
• Menstrual health cannot be attained solely by governmental initiatives; rather, it must be addressed as a social issue that calls for interventions at the societal, local, and family levels.

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