Sponge

Ok, I think everyone in my inner circle of friends knows this about me, but I’m all about women empowerment and respect, and after yesterday’s site visit to the Women’s Welfare Society in South Mumbai, I really need to touch on the topic of menstruation in India. I’ll be honest, I wrestled around about writing on the topic, but I believe there is an importance to the issue.

I just want to forewarn the men that read this blog, if you are not comfortable reading about menstruation and the societal gender bias in relations to development of women’s issues, I advise you to stop reading at this point.

To start, my mother raised me on the belief to never allow my gender be my Achilles’ heel. Growing up with four brothers, I wasn’t raised like all typical girls. I still wore my pigtails and pretty pink dresses, but my mom raised me to be tough just like the boys. So when little Jenn transformed and entered to adulthood Jenn (this is as subtle as I can go), my mother taught me to embrace my femininity and the wonderful responsibilities of womanhood that include the cramps, the bloating, the headaches, and the crazy cravings that occur on the first and second day. When a woman gets her period 12 times a year (less, if on birth control), she becomes a pro. Unfortunately, women outside our western culture are not so lucky and privilege when our Aunt Flow comes to visit once a month.

Yesterday, I was very lucky and privileged to visit the Women’s Welfare Society in the south part of Mumbai. The Women’s Welfare Society is a community-based organization supported by the Social Activities Integration (SAI) that works with sex workers. Our group was very privilege to provide site training on the topics of menstruation, menopause, and breast cancer to community outreach workers who go out on the field every day and work in helping sex workers in providing HIV/AIDS health services, vocational training, prevention/rehabilitation for substance abuse, and other array of programs including the sale of their own products for income generation, which is a core aspect of social entrepreneurship and self-organization sustainability.

The reason why I am blogging about menstruation is because it became a hot topic. In India, women sex workers who cannot afford the use of maxi pads or tampons, use sponges. We are still unsure, but we suspect that kitchen sponges are used. For the women in my group, including myself, we were shocked. What we take advantage in our western, American culture is out of reach for many poor women in India that cannot afford these resources. As public health practitioners in-training, we asked questions and wanted answers. The use of the kitchen sponge as a method to collect menstruation flow is a health hazard that includes the growth of bacteria and an array of other infections, especially if the sponge is not wash and dried in a proper matter.

Overall, the point that I want to make and I have seen this in other cultures where women issues are also a grave concern is that a girl that is about to enter womanhood should not face the obstacles in not being able to afford proper sanitary products in every race and economic stature level.

After yesterday’s site visit, my brain started to run a thousand miles per hour and I started to think on how I can use social entrepreneurship and the topic of providing proper sanitary products for poor women around the world. A light bulb turned on, and I started to think how cool would it be to donate the Diva cup (a silicone cup that collects menstruation flow) or reusable cloth maxi pad from the manufacturers to the community-based organizations and the community-based organizations can sell them at discount price or even provide them free as a form of self-sustainability.

As a woman, I find it as a gift that I get my period once a months and the beauty that I can reproduce life. Education is vital for change. The idea just because a girl or woman cannot afford sanitary products when she has her period and cannot to go to school or left with the last resort to use a kitchen sponge is backward for a country that is able to provide top IT technology around the world.