Sometimes we tend to forget that even simple things like menstrual hygiene can still be an obstacle for women. Sushma Devi, a mother of three in Northern India, stores her “moon cup” on the window sill of the mud-brick veranda that shelters the family goats.
We learn a lot about menstrual hygiene for Indian women in this article by Natasha Khan and Ketaki Gokhale:
In a village where few have indoor toilets and the Hindi word for her genitals is a profanity, 30-year-old Sushma struggles to talk about how she manages her period and the changes brought by the bell-shaped device she inserts in her vagina to collect menstrual blood.
“When our periods start, it becomes much harder,” explains Sushma, who wears a faded floral-patterned sari with silver toe rings and colorful glass bangles jangling on her arms. She was 15 years old when her mother showed her how to use fabric torn from discarded saris to handle her monthly period.
Read full story here.
Photo by McKay Savage
