Inspirational Journey of Khushi’s Fight Against Period Taboos #EmbraceEquity

By Ruchi Sharma

Periods! A part and parcel of a girl's life. It’s as normal as breathing for any girl but still it’s considered a taboo to even speak out the word aloud, why is it so? We are steadily moving towards a more advanced and full tech world, but even then something that’s so natural is considered dirty?

Declaring that you are having a baby is something all your relatives rejoice but you can’t say anything about menstruation? Well, that’s definitely strange. This situation is worse in rural areas. Girls and women are considered dirty when they are having periods and they have a whole set of restrictions which they have to adhere to. Recognising the need of menstrual education, a young lady took it upon her shoulders to give her best towards this cause. Khushi Paliwal may be just 21 years old but her strong thought process is already making a positive change in the society. 

Khushi is a law student who lives in Udaipur city of Rajasthan. She herself could relate to the problem because when she began with her periods, she wasn’t aware of what was happening. Khushi told us, “Growing up, Periods were taboo and attached to several myths everywhere. But I decided to talk about it. Even though I was going to a Private Co-ed school with a privileged background, no formal education or teachers introduced us to Periods. Boys usually make a mockery of the stain on our skirts. ” 

She got to know that this story is actually prevalent everywhere and is even worse in rural areas- villages and remote places where even access to menstrual products is considered a luxury. This led to the birth of the project- RED PAD. In Khushi’s words, “I began the bona fide authentic conversation on periods with my Project - The Red Pad. Often, male Sarpanchs and school principals were not welcoming to this idea but I managed to overcome all hurdles. The Red Pad is a period-positive movement to make newly achieved puberty girls aware of menstruation as a biological process. It tries to promote fun-cum-learning sessions with means of creativity, projection of movies, and students' active participation. “

Under the project, she has successfully reached out to 20+ districts in Rajasthan including Alwar, Rajasamand, Umarda, Bagdara, Chittorgarh, etc. and managed to impact more than 4000 school students. Her team is also working hards towards creating awareness and has already conducted preventive talks on sexual abuse and distributed sanitary pads, making girls aware of the usage, disposal, and changing guidelines. They have also constructed separate toilets for boys, girls, and the disabled in areas as well.

Khushi’s vision is surely inspiring, “My intention to put forth this story of Rajasthan is to make teens aware and empower girls about their bodies. To overcome the age-old societal norms associated with Menstruation which turns out to be the fifth biggest killer of women in the world.”

Kudos Girl! We are extremely proud of you and we are sure under the RED PAD project you will help a lot of girls understand their menstrual needs better and help them in leading a dignified life!

Wow! What a motivational story! You can also read- 'Devi Verma Proved That Age Cannot Keep You Away from Living Your Destiny!'.

Information Source: Inputs from Khushi Paliwal, Founder, RED PAD