This #MenstrualHygieneDay, we wanted to reflect on the stories and the conversations needed to break the silence around that one natural yet somehow taboo topic: menstruation. 

Silence and regressive norms are not created nor broken overnight. But they’re undone over years of work, speaking out and the unbreaking desire to see a gender-equitable world. Sarishti and Mamta are both members of Breakthrough and they both write about menstruation and the journey of defeating stigma around it. Sarishti’s piece reflects on the journey of every menstruating person and the damage that the silence inflicts, while Mamta expands the need to invest significantly into women’s health and care in India. 

Read now. 

1. Code Words, Blue ‘Stains’, and the Silence Around Periods

By Sarishti Sadar

“Badi ho gayi hai.”
“Shadi layak ho gayi.”
“Tabiyat kharab hai.”

If you’ve heard these phrases whispered around the house, congratulations, you already know the secret code. I grew up decoding these cryptic lines, never realising they were referring to something so natural. Not illness, not a milestone of maturity, but simply menstruation.

At home, whenever my mother or sister said they weren’t feeling well, my father would offer medicine or suggest a doctor. But on certain days, the same words meant something else and my father would just nod silently. No questions asked. 

Not illness, not a milestone of maturity, but simply menstruation.

Then came the advertisements. Blue liquid trickling onto a pad, which led me to believe that grown-up girls perhaps couldn’t hold their urine. Later, I found stained undergarments in the laundry and thought maybe it’s not urine, but stool. I began checking my underwear proudly every day, relieved that I didn’t have these “mishaps.”

One day, I asked my mother and sister why their clothes were stained. They paused, looked at each other, and continued folding laundry in silence. No explanations. No words. Just that old, familiar silence.

It wasn’t until years later that an NGO visited my co-ed school and screened a video for only the girls on periods. The myths I had been carrying for years dissolved in minutes. It was blood. It was natural. But the shame would take longer to unlearn.

And I wasn’t alone on this journey.

When I grew older, one of my colleagues, Nisha, believed her first period was khooni bawasir (bloody piles) because girls in her village thought it traveled through the air. She stained her school uniform, ran home in fear, and was handed a cloth pad without a word of explanation. It wasn’t until her marriage, while still in Class 12, that she learned what it was. Today, Nisha leads menstrual health conversations across villages, turning silence into stories.

It was blood. It was natural. But the shame would take longer to unlearn.

Roma lived with guilt for four years because she missed a nuskha (antidote) – an old ritual that supposedly reduced the number of bleeding days. She hadn’t told her mother on time to carry it out, and believed for years that she’d done something wrong. It was only later that she realised: it is a myth.

And Ritambhara remembers feeling left out when all her friends began menstruating and she hadn’t. When it finally happened, everyone said, “Tum badi ho gayi ho.” But instead of feeling grown-up, she just felt more restricted.

Every period story is different. Some celebrate, some cry, some hide, some don’t even know what’s happening, and for people whose gender identity is different from the one they were assigned at  birth, it is dysphoric. Some have access to pads, toilets, and conversations. Others face dirty clothes, silence, and shame.

And the cost of that silence is very real.

Even those of us who were confused or embarrassed at first were still privileged, we had someone, somewhere, who showed up with clean clothes, a cloth pad, a vague gesture of care. But many girls and women in the world don’t have anyone. They live in the shadows of old taboos, following unsafe practices that harm their health.

Across the world, millions of menstruating bodies continue to face barriers when it comes to managing their periods with safety and confidence. In northern parts of India, girls are told not to enter kitchens, temples, or even touch pickles. Even in schools, the absence of clean toilets and privacy pushes many girls to drop out, setting them on a path toward early marriage.

But the biggest barrier isn’t just infrastructure, it’s attitude. When periods are treated as shameful, girls internalise that shame. Boys stay misinformed. And families stay silent.

Through Breakthrough’s Taaron Ki Toli sessions, we create spaces in schools where adolescents can talk freely about their bodies, puberty, and menstruation.

One of our most relatable tools is the video ‘Jhole Wali Didi’, that breaks down what puberty is, menstruation is, why it happens, and how to manage it with dignity. It makes biology relatable, busts myths, and opens the floor to honest questions.

And this is how it regressive practices can be flipped. Because real change begins when the same people who once whispered, “tabiyat kharab hai,” now say “she’s on her period” without shame.

2. Reflections on Menstrual Hygiene Day: In Uttar Pradesh and Beyond

by Mamta Pandey

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), only about 57.6% of young women aged 15–24 in rural India use hygienic methods of menstrual protection, compared to 89.4% in urban areas. 

The result? Many girls continue to rely on unhygienic alternatives such as old cloth, ash, or husk, which can lead to infections and long-term reproductive health issues. UNESCO estimates that 1 in 5 girls in India drops out of school entirely after reaching puberty 

This situation is more aggravated in Uttar Pradesh, where many girls choose to skip school during their periods due to a lack of access to sanitary products, inadequate toilets, or simply the fear of embarrassment. There is a lack of facilities especially in schools and rural areas, where there is no clean water or private toilets leading to many girls either completely dropping out of school or being absent a great deal. 

UNESCO estimates that 1 in 5 girls in India drops out of school entirely after reaching puberty 

At Breakthrough, we have continued to observe a significant lack of willingness to invest in girls’ health and hygiene, particularly in the rural and peri-urban communities of Uttar Pradesh where we work. This challenge is deeply rooted in patriarchal norms and societal structures. In many families, when it comes to education or spending on health, the priority is given to boys. Parents are willing to go the extra mile to invest in their sons’ future—whether it’s education, tuition, or job opportunities. But for girls, support is often limited to the bare minimum—just enough schooling to make her marriageable. Her health, her hygiene, her dreams often take a back seat.

We are continuing to work to change these regressive and patriarchal gender norms. How? We are working to negotiate with families to challenge gender discrimination, and to ensure girls are given equal investment—not just in education, but also in health, hygiene, mobility, and opportunities to work and grow. We believe this is not just a girl’s issue but that this is a community issue. 

And that’s why we engage with everyone—parents, front line workers, teachers, PRIs including men and boys and most importantly, the girls themselves. Through our awareness programs and comprehensive training modules, we are aiming to change mind-sets. We’re trying to break the silence around menstruation. We’re opening up conversations that were once stigmatised. And we’re giving young girls the power of knowledge—so they can take control of their bodies, their choices, and their futures.

We firmly believe that when parents understand the long-term value of investing in their daughters, when schools and front line workers support these efforts, and when girls are empowered with accurate information and agency—that’s when real change happens.

This is more than hygiene— It’s about restoring what patriarchy has denied for too long: dignity, equity, and opportunity for every girl to live up to their full potential.