Vadodara/ Anand: At a time when menstruating women are treated as untouchables in many parts of the country, a religious trust has started a drive to distribute sanitary pads to the rural women and girls.
With an aim to promote menstrual hygiene amongst adolescent girls and under-privileged women, Gokuldham Nar, a Swaminarayan sect having its religious and education campus on Tarapur-Dharmaj highway in Anand’s Petlad taluka, has launched a campaign to distribute 3.40 lakh sanitary pads.
“Around 36% girls in India don’t go to schools during menstruation. Similarly, 41 % girls are quarantined due to old myths. Our goal with this initiative is to address the socio-cultural taboos and beliefs in menstruation,” said Harikeshav Swami, who along with Sukhdev Swami inspired the drive.
“Our campaign will show solidarity towards adolescent women facing these challenges and let them know they are not alone in busting age-old myth,” he said.
With donations from Africa-based donors, the pad distribution campaign kicked off under the aegis of Swami Charitable Trust on National Girl Child Day on January 24 through a function entirely managed by women. Around 10,000 women in the age group of 15 to 30 years have been provided boxes of sanitary pads which can suffice the need of six months.
“So far, talking about menstrual hygiene was considered a taboo. But the campaign started by the saints and Gokuldham Nar is beginning of a new chapter,” said Asha Dalal, founder chairman of Jagrut Mahila Sangathan, an Anand-based NGO working in the field of women empowerment.