In a society that usually stigmatizes issues like menstruation, the outlook of people of a tiny village in Rajasthan is a testament to the positive change that is beginning to grow across India.
Situated approximately 70 km from Udaipur, Kharadi Phala houses around 290 families. It was here that Team Goonj, under its Not Just a Piece of Cloth (NJPC) initiative, conducted a meeting to raise awareness and foster education on menstruation and women’s health. To effectively conduct the meeting, informative banners and posters were put in place, which surprisingly, attracted an unusual crowd as men spent a lot of time reading the posters and participated in the NJPC session. Villagers — both men and women — listened intently to the insights and information from Team Goonj. When our team asked to speak with the women attendees about their menstrual problems, the men quietly excused themselves from the session — conscious of the fact that their presence could be a possible hindrance to an open discussion.
After the NJPC session, the men interviewed noted, “Activities such as these are very important to (everyone). If (women) are quiet … we will never understand their difficulties”
We are so hopeful that the outlook of these positive-thinking, open-minded gentlemen of Kharadi Phala village, will soon be shared by many others across rural India.
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