From taboos to training: How tribal women in remote village are changing ideas about menstrual hygiene

On May 28, the International Menstrual Hygiene Day 2025, Phase II kicked off. It was inaugurated by Priyamvada
Mahaddalkar, assistant collector and project officer, ITDP, Dharni. The tribal women and officials revisited and reviewed the outcome of Phase 1, especially with the former giving feedback about the reusable pads that they had been given last year.

“The traditional market-bought sanitary pads, which are of one-time use, have an affordability angle to it. The women are not able to afford it on a long-term basis. We thought that the reusable, washable product was a way for us to promote sustainable menstrual hygiene in the long run. The good part about this training was that it focused a lot on the awareness aspects of menstrual hygiene,” says Mahaddalkar. “The feedback from the women was encouraging and showed a willingness to continue using the pads and learning the skills of making reusable sanitary pads,” she adds.

Over two days, the women and the officials worked together on the training and production, with the women learning the entire process of making reusable sanitary pads. Since then, 15 women have been coming in as two trainers – and a local man who has been trained – take them through ways of cutting fabric, shaping pads and turning and stitching and buttoning.

The project seeks to train and educate women about the benefits of washable cloth pads. Unlike typical disposable pads, the reusable ones are made out of cloth, with a leak-proof layer that reduces the risk of infection during menstruation. Since the cloth pads are washable, they also go a long way towards environmental sustainability.

The women have been set a target to make around 200 pads, during which time they will learn the skills to produce them. Once the women have mastered the skill through practice — likely in a month-and-a-half — work will begin to create channels of distribution. This might begin with government institutions, offices, zila parishad schools and ashram shalas, ie hostels for tribal women.

Most women work in the fields and forests. “There are some young girls, who are graduates but have not found any suitable employment, so have returned to their homes and are not doing anything. They have just taken up farming by joining their families in the fields. Employment is one of the challenges of the area. If we train the women in this skill, we can work out a long-term project whereby they can start producing these sanitary napkins. We can use these sanitary napkins to create a value chain and provide it in the schools and hostels of the tribal department and also, further down the line, we can try to link them online for selling these products,” says Mahaddalkar.

The programme is built around the theme of “Made by Her, Made for Her”. “Once we have a success story – this is like a pilot for us– we plan to expand it to the other villages. We plan to do it in clusters because we don’t have infrastructure and other facilities in every village. So, we’ll identify a cluster, where the nearby villages can also be connected. Then, we can start training programmes elsewhere as well,” she adds.

The work is continuing despite challenges, such as erratic electric supply, which impacts sewing machines. Nonetheless, officials hope that the number of participants making the pads will increase with other tribal women joining the team. This will not only allow them an income but also generate greater awareness. “The initiative has helped to improve awareness and adoption of safe menstrual practices, offer hands-on skill development and livelihood opportunity for tribal girls and women, and promote eco-friendly alternatives to single –use menstrual products,” says Avinash Hatwate, an official from ITDP Dharni.