Scope of menstrual policy misuse exists

Continued from Page 1

An article by BBC stated that in Uttar Pradesh, female teachers have to travel long distances to areas that do not have proper public transport. They also have to use dirty toilets at school.

Similar is the experience of Pooja T, a primary school teacher. Along with her colleagues, she travels on a bumpy road. Her school is 40 km from her home. She gets no menstrual leave.

“I get 14 CLs in a year. But you cannot use it every month because of periods. So I prefer going to school. Almost everyone has painful periods. For people with an irregular pattern, it is common to have your periods early and if you don’t have a pad with you, it gets difficult to arrange one.”

Asked if menstrual leave should be provided, she said: “It is difficult to manage the whole class when almost every part of your body is tormenting you. If the government implemented a season, his sales go up. “The government does not help us in this matter at all,” he said.

For some, Lambani attire is too-old fashioned. Dhanava Shekhappa Rathod, president of the Rajur gram panchayat, laughed and said: “If I wear a Lambani dress, my children will say I am old-fashioned. The dress is very heavy; I cannot carry it every day.”

Most Lambani women have stopped wearing traditional clothes because it takes a lot of time — nearly one year — to stitch a ghagra-choli. Another reason is changing taste. Younger women like to wear light clothes now on a daily basis.

There are Lambani women who used to stitch varieties like ghagra-choli, topli, ganno, ghero, buriya, kodi, kache, patiyaa, ghughi and badlu.

Lambani is a tribe, which according to various online sources, migrated from Europe to Afghanistan and then to Rajasthan during Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s period. The community helped him carry goods to southern India. Lambanis, also called Banjaras, and are known for the colourful clothes and traditional dance performances. Read the complete story on www.theweeklyobserver.in

Weather

Temperature: 31°C

Precipitation: 20%

Wind : 3 km/h

Maximum Temperature: 33.6

Minimum Temperature: 19.8 law regarding the issue, it would really help working women.”

Kashika Singhal, an HR manager in a private firm, said companies should refrain from hiring female employees. “If this (menstrual leave) policy is implemented, it will result in discrimination and can also affect the morale of male employees.” There will be scope for misusing such policies. “However, such matters should be handled by female senior employees.”

Aman Mudgal, the founder of Getsalenow, a marketing platform, said his company does not provide such benefits.

On February 24, PIL was filed in the Supreme Court for enacting a menstrual leave law that will provide relief to female students and employees. The court refused to entertain the issue as the issue falls under the domain of the government. They further suggested taking the representation to the Union ministry of women and child development. Read the complete story on www.theweekelyobserver.in

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The Observer

Produced by the Print students of the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media at Nityananda Nagar, Kumbalgodu, Kengeri hobli, Bengaluru 560074.

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