Every year on the 28th of May, World Menstrual Hygiene Day is commemorated, which represents the typical gap between two periods of 28 days and the average duration of a period of 5 days. It’s an important day to raise awareness and try to modify harmful social conventions surrounding menstruation.
These initiatives are even more critical in India, where menstruation is still buried in silence, misunderstanding, and embarrassment. Unfortunately, many young girls today only realise what it is when they physically experience it for the first time.
For these young girls, their mothers are frequently their primary source of information. Years of conditioning around menstruation, on the other hand, continue to impact a mother’s approach and thinking, and she so passes on outdated notions of ‘hiding periods’ from men, including their fathers and brothers.
Stayfree, India’s premier sanitary napkin company, has been deeply involved in all elements of re-establishing normalcy during menstruation. Education alliances, promotion of best practices for Menstrual Hygiene Management, and encouraging open dialogues on the subject by the people who matter the most to the young girl – her family – are all part of these initiatives.
Stayfree wants to encourage those most responsible for a young girl’s holistic coming of age – moms and fathers – to rise up and do more to change this shameful and silent tale. This journey began in 2020 when Stayfree encouraged fathers and moms to say “It’s Just a Period” with their daughters. After all, while menstruation may signal a girl’s body’s physical maturation, she is still emotionally sensitive and unprepared to face societal stigmas around periods.
As a result, it is critical for those closest to the young girl – fathers, mothers, and teachers – to assist her to understand that periods are a natural part of life. It sets the tone that periods do not have to be hushed chats and that open communication can strengthen the father-daughter bond.
Stayfree is emphasizing the importance of a father’s role once again since we’ve discovered that there’s a noticeable void in a father-daughter relationship during her adolescent years. Fathers are progressively taking on increased responsibility for caring from the moment their daughter is born, a fact that has been recognized by businesses, which are now providing substantial paternity leaves.
When it comes to supporting her dreams and ambitions, these same fathers want nothing but the best for their daughter, no matter how unusual they may be. During her adolescent years, however, they take a step back and allow her mother to take over as her caretaker.
Stayfree is leading by example by giving resources to parents who wish to have this conversation through “Stayfree Periodshala Digital Masterclasses,” a one-hour programme co-created by Stayfree and Menstrupedia (an NGO involved in creating menstrual awareness through engaging educational material) More than 2000 families attended these programmes last year on Daughters Day to equip and prepare themselves for this conversation.
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