(UTV|COLOMBO) There are many candidates for the title of “last taboo,” but in 2018, menstruation has one of the strongest claims on it. The power of this taboo has meant that the topic menstruation has remained imprisoned by silence, stigma and neglect. This is baffling when two billion girls and women worldwide are of menstruating age. The majority of those women and girls will have no access to clean and safe sanitary products, nor to a clean and private space in which to change menstrual cloths or pads, nor to a private space in which to wash. Menstruation is supposed to be invisible and silent, and sometimes, menstruating women and girls are supposed to be invisible and silent too. Plenty are kept physically isolated during their periods, or culturally isolated by edicts and restrictions.
The SAARC CHAMBER Women Entrepreneurs Council (SCWEC) seeks to realize a world where women are able stand up and let their voices her heard. Regardless of religion, wealth or race, women, especially from the South Asian region, have for too long had to suffer in silence. They must become equal to their male counterparts and be given the freedom to express themselves.
Menstrual hygiene is one poignant dimension of our work towards this equality. Every month women and girls all over the South Asian region are ashamed, uncomfortable and often unsafe as they try to hide the fact that they are menstruating while also managing this in a way that no one will know. Why do they do this? Because the schools they study in, the spaces they play or relax in, the markets, farms and offices they work in do not design facilities with this simple and recurrent biological need in mind. Why is that? Because menstruation is a taboo handed down over time to be dealt with privately by women and girls and not shared in public.
SCWEC believes that ignoring the menstrual hygiene needs of a woman is a violation of her rights. Breaking the taboo starts with the right to information and knowledge and the ability of women and girls to talk freely about menstruation. SCWEC contributes to this process by facilitating innovative learning and sharing platforms that enable women, young and old to understand and respond to the practical needs around menstrual hygiene management and facilitate a girl’s journey from silence and shame to confidence and pride.
Studies performed by us have found that menstrual hygiene management pushes women out of the workplace for up to six days a month, affecting their earning power and income. As such, it is a costly taboo, negatively affecting income generation and consequently GDP. But until now it has been a silent drain on prosperity and progress.
The stigma also wreaks serious physiological damage. Girls who are not properly educated about menstruation and have no opportunity to learn about it may use inadequate and sometimes dangerous materials such as dirty rags, straw, sand or newspaper. These can and do lead to external and internal infections and disability.
With all this in mind, SCWEC decided it was time to act. Our aim is to introduce these machines in hopes of changing the lives of millions of women. We hope this pilot project will bring greater education on the topic of menstruation and, in addition, enhance the lives of women by allowing them the chance of financial independence. We wish that all of you present here today will be united with us as we strive towards this goal. We want to take this opportunity to forge new connections between unexpected partners, between like minds who agree that it is time for this invisible, silent issue to be brought into the open.
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