NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, October 14, 2013

India is headed on a well-laid path towards modernization in terms of technology and economy. Yet, for most women hailing from interior parts of Indian farmlands, modernization is only a matter of outside change and has failed to reflect their inner mind-sets. When it comes to personal hygiene, over 300 million Indian women prefer home-spun, cotton rag substitutes or even dry leaves or news papers over branded sanitary pads. AC Nielsen, a research firm, says that 70 percent of women in India cannot afford sanitary products. Those who can afford to buy one prefer not to as it irks them to ask for it at the drugstore that is usually run by men.

With this inevitable mind-set that has been imbibed upon them through the norms of the society they live in, women are facing serious consequences in terms of their health. Every year, adolescent girls miss up to 50 days of school days and around 23 percent of them drop out of schools altogether. Working women too prefer to stay at home during those days and lose their daily wages. This is a serious issue in our country and many social entrepreneurs have stepped up to provide a better solution in order to make the lives of these women much easier.