Period warrior

Period warrior

Agrima Makharia, is not your regular teenager. This 16-year-old, 11th grader from Oberoi International School, Mumbai, has made it her goal to ensure that women and girls have access to period hygiene and nobody thinks of menstruation as ‘dirty’ or ‘impure.’ 

Ever since she was 11, she started questioning ideas like ‘women shouldn’t enter the kitchen while they are menstruating’ or ‘periods need to be discussed in a hushed manner’ and so on. Soon she realised that periods, and the myths and superstitions surrounding the monthly cycle shouldn’t be an obstacle to women’s growth and progress. To raise awareness of menstrual hygiene and start a conversation around periods without any hiccups or embarrassment, Makharia started visiting parts of Mumbai and Varanasi, and distributed free sanitary napkins. Since then, she has been relentlessly working towards shaking off the stigma associated with menses and educating young girls and women. 

Makharia shares more about her initiative.  

When did you start working with government schools? 
I think we, as a country, have significantly progressed and have taken some major leaps to overcome the stigma of menstruation in the last couple of years. Films like Padman and Period: End of Sentence, definitely played a prominent role in helping us do so. However, they still haven’t reached the core of India because of the barriers of age-old traditions, illiteracy, and lack of access. Initially, I started working with a government school in December 2017, but since last year, I have been working with eight government schools. 

Do you think most young girls and women take menstrual hygiene seriously? Do they have access to sanitary napkins? 
No, I don’t think girls and women taken hygiene during menstruation seriously as we, as a society, have ignored this topic for such a long time that we have become accustomed to not taking care of ourselves during this time. That said, the awareness of menstrual hygiene is growing at a steady pace and the youth of the country is extremely receptive to change. They do have access to sanitary napkins to some extent, but the issue is that the shops are far away, the napkins are extremely expensive and many are unwilling to leave age-old traditions behind because of the lack of education and awareness. 

How do you ensure that these girls or women have access to free or affordable sanitary napkins?
Firstly, I have tried to spread awareness on this issue by aiming to de-stigmatise menstruation. I have also connected a low-cost biodegradable pad manufacturer to a few shopkeepers and I am supplying free pads to around 450 girls for a year to make them accustomed to the product. 

Are women/ people in rural India or lower income groups willing to change their outlook towards stigma, taboos and superstitions surrounding menstruation? 
Young girls are eager to see a change and embody the spirit of growth and development. They are extremely understanding, hungry for knowledge and are willing to change their perspective on this issue. However, it is a little more challenging to bring about this change in women as they still follow age-old traditions. Because of their upbringing and childhood practices, they are resistant to these ‘new practices’. Many women refused to talk to me when I tried approaching them with some even rejecting the free pad that I offered to them. 

What kind of initiative or aid do you think you can get from the government to improve the scenario?
If the government can make low-cost pads available in rural areas by either installing pad vending machines in schools, encouraging the production of these pads, supplying free pads to women living below the poverty line, spreading more awareness or even persuading the usage of biodegradable pads, then India as a country can go a long way.

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