The Freedom to be.
There are certain tribes in Malawi where menstruating women are sent away to a lonely hillock near the village. There, they sit on the burning hot sand all day, bleeding into the earth, burying their girlhood and womanhood into the ground, waiting to be better enough for the village to accept them back. In certain parts of Japan, women aren’t allowed to hold traditionally male jobs like that of a Sushi Chef because of the belief that menstruation causes imbalance in the taste of their food. Closer home, we know women aren’t allowed in the places of worship while having their periods. These are the kind of stories I was prepared to listen to when I was invited to deliver a speech at an event recently — celebrating the launch of a low-cost sanitary napkin in Dhaka. The stories I heard instead, surprised me.
Research tells me that 36 percent of Bangladeshi women participate actively in the country’s workforce. The percentage is slightly higher than the south-east Asian average. Which makes sense, considering that Bangladesh’s biggest industries is clothing, which employs primarily women. In most cases it is a low-paying, daily wage sort of an arrangement involving incredibly long hours. No affordable sanitary products with reasonably acceptable quality are available in the market. Which means a few days every month, a majority of women may have to reluctantly miss work and lose the wages they cannot afford to lose.
In an import-intensive country like Bangladesh, even the female hygiene products that are available are quite expensive due to the heavy duties levied. It therefore made sense, though it shocked me a little to hear at first, when a University Professor informed all of us that even students studying in private universities cannot afford such products and have to rely on other unhygienic methods. Another activist who works for female reproductive health, hygiene and safety spoke of her visits to other towns and villages in Bangladesh, from where she brought back stories of women using dried hay and sand wrapped in cloth for their difficult days. An activist, who works with the Rohingyas, told us that when millions of refugees are cramped into a small piece of land, privacy and hygiene for women gets pushed down ever lower on the list of priorities.
Mr. Ariful Forquan, CEO of Eco International, took cognizance of these issues and set out to make an affordable and high-quality product. His major target customer base was primarily lower income female garment workers. He who drew inspiration from Padma Shri Mr. Arunachalam Muruganantham of India, amongst many others while he researched the best way to go about his production. Connect to Grow (UK), an enterprise matchmaking initiative, designed to help ambitious enterprises, saw potential and promise in Mr. Forquan’s dream and stepped forward to support them. The result, after two years of dedication and hard work, was ‘Sokhipad’.
At the launch event, we saw videos and demonstrations of the product which vouched for its quality. Mr. Forquan is making his best efforts to make Sokhipad readily available at all drugstores in Dhaka, and soon throughout Bangladesh. Priced at BDT 50 for 6 pieces, I could see how it beats the competitors by a neat margin. Mr. Forquan is also planning to join hands with organizations and activists working in the area of female reproductive health and hygiene to make their products reach far and wide. Eventually, hopefully soon, even as far as the Rohingya camps.
I wished the gentleman and his team the very best of luck, and walked away from that event a little more hopeful. Because come to think of it, all the talk of women empowerment ultimately boils down to solving such everyday problems for them. And it pleased and comforted me to know that there are people out there, making it their mission to finding a solution.
