WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT SINDOOR OR SANITARY PADS???

Today lets talk about the taboo subject in our country that is menstruation .i believe we don’t talk about it because of that we are also unaware of the process, about the problems related to it and how it is affecting india.we are in a country where sindoor is GST free and sanitary pads which is the necessity has a 12% GST. the root cause of approximately 70 % of all reproductive diseases in India is poor menstrual hygiene.

For those who don’t know what menstruation is ,it is the process in a woman of discharging blood and other material from the lining of the uterus at intervals of about one lunar month from puberty until the menopause, except during pregnancy.

Now let's talk about the hygiene issues in India:

355 million women in India go through menstruation and in that only 12-20% uses  sanitary pads.and in the rest women, 60% of the women are in rural india.

Rural women uses sand, clothes and other unhygienic practices at the time of periods which can cause multiple reproductive diseases and can infect the uterus.

Medical reasons:

90% women face pain during periods like abdominal, back and tight pain

Medical conditions like endometriosis, pelvic inflammation can cause severe pain.endometriosis is due to our modern lifestyle, lack of proper diet, lack of exercise.

Absurd practices:

Orthodox thinking regarding transitioning from a girl to woman, in rural India families think that only girls need to study and as a girl menstruation period starts, they feel like she has grown into a woman and also can get married.ultimately girl becomes a housewife and ends her career.

Also during girl’s periods, they are treated as the outcast, unholy, impure also they are not allowed to enter temple and kitchen.

Because of which 20% of girls drop out of school and also the decrease in the women employee.

What can be done:

                                                               

Sanitary napkins should be treated as an ‘essential commodity’ and be made tax free much like other contraceptives or at least bracket of 12% GST can be reduced to 5%.( campaign Lahu Ka Lagaan by SHE)

NGO

Awareness campaign and educating  school girls and women .i hope movies like padman can make some changes

Project Shakti by manushi chhillar miss world 2017 under the government of Haryana for free pads in state schools for girls(18 crores budget)

Encourage small companies like saral designs which make their own ultra-thin pads at an affordable price and distributes them across the country reaching villages through appointed Sangins, a group of local women who sell these pads door to door in addition to educating the rural women and young girls on menstrual hygiene.

Maternity benefit bill and menstruation benefit bill can help women, it can encourage them, it can empower them to work.

Menstruation benefit bill 2017: a private bill introduced by Ninong ering congress MP.

This kind of leaves are provided by other countries also like Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Italy

For: In this 2 days of paid leave will be granted to all the public and private women employee every month and better facilities at the workplace to manage themselves during menstruation(the bill is still under process)

Similar kind of leaves was also started by the company culture machine(one day off on the 1^st day of period) to make the workspace more women-friendly, more caring and more encouraging workspace.

Against 1: India's rank in the world economic form global gender gap index is 108/144(we slipped 20 ranks)

Also, A report by world bank also talks about, there is a decline in the women employee every year in India.Absurd practices or age or education or social taboo in India can be the reason(girl to women transition).But world bank gives a different reason for that.according to world bank rise in the middle-class economic stability makes the women stay at home and they don’t have to work.

Against 2: It has been a long battle for the women to be seen as equal to men in the workplace.this bill defeats that, women have fought hard to convey the message that mensuration is not a treated as sickness.

And providing separate leave can send the message that mensuration is, in fact, a big deal and may reinforce orthodox thinking.

"I think man and women should not be compared because men have their own problems and vulnerability and women have their own.so everywhere we should not compare.

The bill definitely helps women and encourage them but paid leaves can actually reduce employability of women from the employer point of view.

Ex:

Say a woman is paid  Rs 50000 per month. Let's say a month has 24 working days roughly. Her each day's pay is Rs 2083. Let's assume the company is a mid-size corporate having 400 people workforce out of which 30% are females, 120 ladies. The employer loses Rs 2083 x 120women= 2.5lacs approx per month. 30lacs per year. 30lacs for a mid-size company. The losses would go in millions for big IT giants like Infosys,hcl, Accenture, TCS etc. This would decrease the resource value of women in India which already is not very good.

Leave can also increase the backlog on women which eventually increases pressure on them(i.e 24 days work is to be completed in 22/21 days)

Also, on a positive note leave can get them proper needed rest and they can come fresh and can be more productive.

Other alternatives can be work from home."

There are problems there are solutions also but there is a lot of things to change and it will be interesting to see how the change will happen.

(this blog is not to offend anybody I know it is a very sensitive issue and this is just my way to see things)open for discussion