Feminist activists protest tax on sanitary pads: attempts to normalize conversations about menstruation in India using hashtag activism

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Notes

1. Sanitary Protection: Every Woman's Health Right. A survey undertaken by AC Nielsen. Reviewed and endorsed by community development organization Plan India, the survey was conducted in October 2010 and involved 1033 women in the menstrual age and 151 gynecologists from across India.

2. A committee assembled by the government to keep girls in school issued a menstrual hygiene instruction guide for educational institutions across the country that mandated enclosed toilets for women and girls at local schools, but there is no confirmation that these plans have been followed through. Moreover, a program to distribute sanitary pads to adolescent girls in rural areas was shortly withdrawn due to lack of funds. When this plan was first initiated, each girl would get only 4–5 pads per month, which would mean that they inevitably had to rely on cloth pads.

3. Indian society takes pride in preserving the culture of silence and shame around something as natural and essential as menstruation. The undisputed prevalence of superstitious beliefs related to menstrual blood such as attracting the evil eye, inducing infertility, misconceptions about virginity and prohibition of idol worship are internalized by members of the society and any resistance towards these practices is not tolerated.