Kochi : Kerala’s fortnightly women-centric magazine Grihalakshmi launches “AARTHAVA YAANAM” literally meaning a menstrual journey. The mass awareness menstrual program which will be conducted across 14 districts of Kerala for girl students of age group 12 – 19 years. Apart from students,the genuine social objective will include the participation of teachers, parents and the general public.
The program will be jointly conducted by Sustainable Mensuration Kerala Collective (SMKC) and volunteer- based organisation Red Cycle. The initiative is designed to include over 50 sessions from talks, discussions, and debates based on educating students irrespective of the gender of the biological process, the importance of menstrual hygiene, alternate menstrual hygiene practices and related social – political and environment issues.
The expected outcome of the program will include breaking the silence surrounding mensuration, proper awareness and sensitization, regardless of gender, correcting the misconceptions spread about period mechanism, and to know which kind of products the women, ingeneral, would prefer to use in Kerala, if they knew about all the options available and why etc.
Commenting about the initiative M V Shreyams Kumar, Jt Managing Director – The Mathrubhumi Group said “ The unique initiative is undertaken as a one step further of our earlier announcement of introducing one day paid extra leave for Mathrubhumi news women reporting staff of their first day of periods. We feel that it is very important to educate the youth of today on menstrual hygiene, people should be more educated and aware about the countless taboos and superstitious beliefs surrounding mensuration, we hope in establishing Kerala state an example for other states to undertake similar programs for their citizens”.
