What Indian Women Need to Know About Their Period Options | World Menstrual Hygiene Day 2025

Let’s begin with a number: 1.8 billion.

That’s how many people menstruate every month. As in right now, on this very day, while you’re reading this sentence, about 800 million humans across the planet are bleeding cyclically, not because of injury, but because of biology. And they’re expected to go about their day like it’s no big deal. School, work, weddings, traffic jams, power cuts... carry on, but please do not speak of the matter.

Today is World Menstrual Hygiene Day. If you’re wondering why this date, it’s quite clever actually. The average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, and the average period? Five days. Hence, 28/5!

What is the day about?

Launched in 2014 by WASH United, a Berlin-based NGO, this day aims to break centuries of silence, shame, and sticky discomfort around a topic that affects nearly 26% of the global population at any given moment. That’s one out of four people walking around with cramps and cravings.

Happy Menstrual Hygiene Day (Canva)

But what does “menstrual hygiene” even mean in a place like India, where you might find space-age mobile apps for periods in cities, and nothing but hushed whispers and old rags in villages? Let’s take a walk through the red aisle. If we ever built a Menstrual Hygiene Museum in India, it would need a massive ground floor gallery just to house the myths. Like the idea that you’re impure when you bleed. Or that you shouldn’t touch pickle jars, go to temples, or God forbid, enter the kitchen.

While we’ve made some progress, let’s not forget: just 1 in 3 schools globally has a bin for menstrual waste. Only 2 in 5 offer education on periods. The result? Girls missing school for up to 5 days every month. That’s 60 days a year. Or two full years by the time she finishes school. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it’s worse: 31% absenteeism.

Menstrual Products in India Today

What are your choices when Aunt Flo comes calling?

1. Sanitary Pads

Sanitary napkins are the most popular option in cities (Getty Images)

The most common, thanks to mass awareness campaigns, ad jingles with blue liquids, and free distribution drives in schools.

The good: Cheap, accessible.

The not-so-good: Environmental disaster. Disposable pads take 500–800 years to decompose. But all is not lost. Enter the biodegradable pad. Made from jute, banana fiber, even corn. These eco-friendly marvels are being promoted under the Water Action Agenda in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.

2. Menstrual Cups

Think of it as a tiny bell-shaped chalice for the uterus. Made of medical-grade silicone, inserted into the vagina, emptied every 8–12 hours.

The good: Reusable, affordable, environment-friendly.

The not-so-good: The learning curve. (First-timers feel like they’re assembling IKEA furniture blindfolded.) But once mastered, it’s liberation in a cup.

3. Period Panties/ Panty Liners

Underwear that absorbs flow. Feels like regular underwear, acts like a pad, washes like your socks.

The good: Great for travel, school, or sleep.

The not-so-good: Pricey up front, but economical over time. Also requires a level of comfort with washing one’s own blood (an idea still wrapped in cultural squeamishness).

4. Tampons

Menstrual cups and tampons are relatively new to India (Getty Images)

Still a rarity in India, mostly due to taboos around “insertion.” But growing slowly. Urban markets are waking up to their convenience.

5. Reusable Cloth Pads

What our grandmothers used is now modernized. Washable, layered cotton pads that can last up to five years. NGOs like Goonj have been championing these across rural India.

Illustration (Canva)

What’s Blocking the Flow (of Progress)?

In one word: shame. In several words: toilets, taboos, trash bins, and talk. Drains get blocked with pads because there are no disposal bins. Girls get bullied for stains because there are no conversation starters. There are over 355 million menstruating women in India, yet millions of them still don’t have access to basic sanitation, privacy, or even clean water.

According to the Ministry of Health, open defecation among menstruating women remains an indignity in many rural areas, especially where homes have no toilets. And only a fraction of rural schools have gender-segregated washrooms. Government programs have begun to address this. Local panchayats are now involved in pad distribution. PTAs are training girls on hygiene. Eco-pads are being tested in community clusters. But menstrual dignity is not a commodity. It’s a human right.

What Can You Do?

1. Talk about it. Not like it’s a secret. Talk to your sons, not just your daughters.
2. Donate or sponsor sustainable products for schools, shelters, or NGOs.
3. Demand better infrastructure in workplaces and schools.
4. Switch to eco-friendly products where possible.

Menstrual Hygiene Day isn’t just about pads and plumbing. It’s about permission—to exist in our bodies without shame. To bleed without apology. To grow up without missing school or shrinking from life.

Sources:

• https://www.unicef.org/wash/menstrual-hygiene
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10014781/
• https://sdgs.un.org/partnership-progress/breaking-silence-menstrual-hygiene-management-mhm-india-wed-05082024-2232
• https://www.unwater.org/news/menstrual-hygiene-day-2025-bridging-gaps-dignity-data-and-investment

Read more:

1. Struggling With Irregular Periods? Foods That Can Help Regulate Your Menstrual Cycle
2. Irregular Periods? Trying To Get Pregnant But Can't? Hormonal Imbalance Could Be A Reason
3. Do Women Get Periods in Space? The Health Challenge No One Talks About