“Yaar, do you have a pad?”
It’s that time of the month again, but to your dismay, it has arrived a little too unexpectedly. You frantically search for your bag in the hopes of finding a sanitary pad but to no avail. Hurried whispers are exchanged between your female friends, each one dashing your hopes with an apologetic nod. But you do not give up, yet. You have saved one last bit of hope for the Habib University (HU) Health and Wellness Center where sanitary pads ought to be abundantly and safely stacked lest any dire emergency. You rush to the Wellness Center to seek sanctuary but you are met with the following response:
“We don’t have any sanitary pads.”
Alas, all final hopes are dashed.
Many girls across the world face the troubles of unexpectedly getting their period in school. Running from friend to friend in search of a sanitary pad only to return empty-handed produces an environment extremely discomforting, where the basic necessities are scarce or associated with shame and impurity. Similar was the case for female students at HU, up until the HU Student Government (HUSG) Executive Council (EC) for 2020 put forth a proposal regarding the provision of and easy access to sanitary napkins in their manifesto.
The HUSG’2020 panel “Ehad” clearly stated in its manifesto the increased access to sanitary napkins as one of its promises to the student body of HU. As their tenure ends, this promise has been fulfilled as the Office of Health and Wellness has now accepted their proposal and promised the provision of pads when campus activities resume.
Figure 1 An image from the 'Tenure End Status' post shared by HUSG'2020.
Figure 2 Screenshot from the ‘Tenure End Status’ post shared by HUSG’2020 summarizing their progress.
This is an issue of dire importance as the scarcity of pads is not only a problem inside educational institutions, but is reflective of what is a very deep-rooted problem in human society. According to a UNICEF survey conducted in Pakistan in 2017, 28% of girls miss out on school during their period from the fear of staining their clothes or not having proper means of sanitation. This survey indicates exactly why we need to bring light and awareness to the conversation on periods because only then we can create an environment safe enough where necessary sanitation products can be made available in abundance, dissociated with any shame or guilt.
Sanitary pads became increasingly popular in use after World War 2 when many women entered the labor force and they had to make sure their bodies did not act as barriers to work. However, as much as sanitary pads enhanced women’s mobility and empowered them, it is also imperative to ask whether the use of sanitary napkins actually played a role in stigmatizing women’s bodies. Men’s bodies in the workforce were the norm and women had to prove that they were as efficient as men and that any biological differences like having periods and cramps did not hinder them from working. Having a conversation about periods was a careful territory. You could not moan about having a bad day because you were on your period otherwise you were deemed as inefficient. Therefore, periods had to be hidden, made invisible, and made a taboo. You wore a pad but nobody had to know anything about it. It was a shameful and silent secret between you and your screaming uterus.
In the Pakistani context, a woman’s body is considered private, and therefore, anything associated with it is considered shameful. Many myths circulate about menstruation such as that it renders a girl impure throughout the week. Hiba Saleem Chanda, an SDP student from the Batch of 2024 shared her anecdote:
“When I first got my period, I was told by my mother and other female members of the family that this was a disease and it means a person is impure and has satanic thoughts. The second day, I went to school and was in need of a sanitary pad. I didn’t know what this condition was called or what sanitary products were called so I approached a female teacher (who was very abusive towards students but was the only one available at the time) and told her I had ‘the disease women get; and needed ‘the tissue liner’.”
Similarly, many more girls from Habib came out on condition of anonymity to share their experiences about womanhood:
“I was once told by a mother that she did not know how to talk to her adolescent daughter about periods. She said that she felt too shy.”
“The first time I saw a period stain on a girl’s uniform, I thought that it was coke spill or something. I was never given any kind of sex education in school.”
“I thought that having periods was something shameful. I was too ashamed to even tell my mother that I had run out of my sanitary pads so I would stuff my panties with tissue papers and wear three layers of tights.”
“First-period story khofnak hai meri [was horrifying for me]. I started bleeding in the middle of the school ground. Saw blood on the see-saw that I was sitting on. I asked my PE sir to let me go. He didn’t. Had to run away for which he embarrassed me ahead...”
“I got my period in the 7th grade when my mother wasn’t home. I was confused and thought maybe I stained my clothes sitting somewhere dirty since I had no clue about what periods are. Raat tak mein nay kisi ko nahi bataya [I didn’t tell anyone till night] because I was scared and ashamed ke mein kahun kya [that what do I say?]? Finally, I gathered courage and told my mother there’s blood coming out of me and she handed me a pad. Mujhay pata hi nahi tha iske saath kya karoon! [I didn’t know what do I do with it!]”
Figure 3 Screenshot from HUSG'2021's manifesto.
Furthermore, the recently elected HUSG’2021 Panel “Qasid” has also included improved accessibility of sanitary products in their manifesto. They aim to make them available at all washrooms across the campus and not just the Health and Wellness Center as going there can be quite an inconvenience for many. They also plan to “arrange sessions and activities with the relevant organizations and experts working on sexual health” to hold conversations about these topics.
Figure 4 Screenshot from a post listing details about the "Awareness and Sensitization" section of HUSG'2021's manifesto.
Even though the actions taken and efforts made by both the HUSGs in providing easy access to sanitary products for women is an initial step in the fight against this taboo surrounding period-talk, it is still very significant. Historically, women have been shunned from their agency because of their bodies. Access to pads will enable them to be more mobile and autonomous on the HU campus. At the same time, women’s bodies should not be considered as ‘barriers’, and having a period stain on your clothes should not be frowned upon or sneered upon. Talking about period cramps with your male friends should not be deemed as awkward and hushed upon because it is something that affects half the population across the world.
So the next time when your period arrives unannounced, make sure you do not lose your calm. You do not need to rush to the washroom to wipe away that stain. After all, it is only a period stain.
References
Borunda, Alejandra. “How Tampons and Pads Became so Unsustainable.” Environment, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 18 Oct. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/how-tampons-pads-became-unsustainable-story-of-plastic/.
Lihemo, Gloria, and Hira Hafeez-Ur-Rehman. “Breaking Silence on Menstrual Hygiene.” UNICEF Office of Innovation , 17 Apr. 2017, www.unicef.org/innovation/U-Report/menstrual-hygiene-polls-pakistan.
Rana, Shahbaz. “Toiletries Targeted as Well: Govt Proposes to Withdraw More SROs.” The Express Tribune, 12 May 2015, https://tribune.com.pk/story/885356/toiletries-targeted-as-well-govt-proposes-to-withdraw-more-sros
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