“I can’t go to school during my periods, as there are no working toilets or period products available there”, said Meena, a 14 year-old from Atali village, Haryana. “We can’t afford expensive sanitary pads, and use cloth instead. As we don’t have access to water at home, we can’t wash properly and when we fall ill due to period-related issues, getting medical help is difficult”, said Dhanvanti, a 28 year-old from a village in Sikar, Rajasthan

Millions of Menstruators like Meena and Dhanvanti* continue to live without proper access to Menstrual Health Management(MHM) that mandates access to education, availability to period products, toilets, privacy, water and safe disposal of menstrual products.  

Requesting:
Hon'ble Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
Hon'ble Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare 
Hon'ble Minister Smt. Smriti Irani, Ministry Of Women & Child Development
Hon'ble Minister Shri. Dharmendra Pradhan, Ministry of Education
CEO's of India's Top Companies 

Lets help all young menstruators achieve their full potential. Passing a law to get #Pads4All Menstruators in India is key to giving menstruators their right to dignity, education and right to work. Sign my petition!!

Click on this link to share this petition on Twitter tagging the right decision makers https://ctt.ac/aEr8k  

WHY THIS PETITION?

Facts and the Latest in India’s efforts to ensure Menstrual Health Management(MHM):

- 28th May is the World Menstrual Hygiene Day. With its 2022 theme #WeAreCommitted, it is focusing to get measurable action and investment
- India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare menstrual hygiene scheme focuses on adolescent girls(10–19-year-olds) in rural areas, which is about 77 Mn. However, the scheme should include girls in both urban areas and in age group of 21-24 and address ~ 177.4 Mn young menstruators. The scheme promotes MHM awareness, access to pads & safe disposal & offers a pack of 6 sanitary napkins called “Freedays” for Rs. 6, via Asha(Accredited Social Health Activist) sisters
- Yet, 23 Mn girls in India drop out of school post menstruating (NGO Dasra report, Spot On!)
- Raising women's participation in the labour force to the same level as men can boost India's GDP by 27% (IMF Chief Christine Lagarde & Norway's PM Erna Solberg at WEF)
- Ministry Of Women & Child Development’s Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) focuses on improving adolescent girls’ health & development and ensures availability of sanitary pads in schools, so as to ensure Fundamental Right to Children for Free & Compulsory Education. The scope should be widened from <14 year-olds to include age groups till 21
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first PM to address menstrual health topic in his Independence Day speech & shared that 5 crore sanitary pads have been delivered to poor women from 6,000 Janaushadhi Kendras. 

In my small bid to help, I set up “Full Stop”, an initiative to spread awareness and organize MHM donation camps for the under-privileged menstruators in North India.

WHY WE NEED TO ACT NOW?

Early results from my survey – “Menstruation: Trends, Challenges & Insights across India in 2022” shows:

- Access is a luxury: 49% of girls and young women don’t have access to period products in schools/work and 48% of them miss schools/work every month due to period-related issues
- Gender inequity continues: Key reasons to miss schools/workplaces are health issues, shame/fear of potential leaks, lack of toilets, privacy & non-availability of period products
- Ignorance continues around MHM: While 68% of them have fallen ill due to periods-related issues, 58% sought no medical help at all
- Menstrual taboos & patriarchy continues: 67% of menstruators have multiple restrictions placed on them
- The road to equality & freedom: After using period products, 84% menstruators said they feel safe and comfortable & 45% liked the freedom to go back to school/workplaces

IF WE DON'T ACT NOW, the full of potential of young girls will forever be compromised in India’s future.

How Can Top Indian Companies Help in Mission #Pads4All Menstruators?

To provide access to 15 pads every month for 177.4 Mn girls in India, the cost works out to be Rs 3193 crores, assuming a cost of Rs 6 for a pack of 6. With total profit of the Top 10 companies in India at Rs 3.25 lakh crores, the cost is just 0.98% of the total profit of these companies. And the cost comes down to just 0.5% of the total profit of Top 500 companies(Rs 6.22 lakh crores profit).

The Government of India should invite corporates to use their CSR funds to offer pads for all menstruators, as it’s the next logical step for the noble Swachh Bharat mission that encouraged companies to make toilets for all.

Through this petition I am calling upon India’s top companies like Reliance, Tata Steel, TCS, HDFC, SBI, Mahindra, Maruti, Hyundai, Toyota, Hero, Honda, IOC, ICICI, Infosys, Vedanta, HUL, P&G, Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, Titan, Ola, Facebook, Google and others to come forward and do their bit by start contributing for making period products available to all menstruators in schools and workplaces. Let there be a charge of Rs 6 per pack. But this will give menstruators their right to dignity, education and right to work.

Helping women make the most of their potential is key to India’s continued rise on the global stage and it starts by ensuring gender diversity in schools and workplaces. The time has come for women to thrive. Let’s joins the fight to end period poverty in India. Together, we can create a world where no woman or girl is held back because of her period. Full Stop!

Pass a law to get #Pads4All Menstruators in India. Do join me by signing my petition today and don't forget to share it around :)

#WeAreCommitted #ItsTimeForAction #pads4all #padsforall
*Please see: #Pads4All is a generic term used to describe the need for menstruators to get period products of their choice, be it sustainable, recyclable, reusable menstrual pads, cups, tampons or any other innovative products.
*Names changed upon request.