GEC Empowers Rural Women
The Gender Equality Committee (GEC) in collaboration with Saukhyam conducted an awareness programme on reusable pads for our Vocational Training Centre and Night Study School students and teachers on Thursday, December 3, 2020.
Saukhyam trains rural women groups to produce reusable pads from cotton cloth and banana fibre. Their current production centres are in the states of Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jammu and Kerala. Together, they have produced over 50,000 pads so far that have cumulatively eliminated an estimated 875 tons of non-biodegradable menstrual waste and are helping prevent the emission of 40.6 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. Women who make the switch save money because repeated purchases of disposable pads are not necessary. One set of Saukhyam pads lasts 4-5 years.
The Gender Equality Committee has connected with Anju Bist from Saukhyam and intends to collaborate on three fronts. The phases of the project are as follows:
* Spreading awareness on the benefits (economic, social and environmental) of reusable pads and how to use them. A habit formed early in their lives will serve them well for the rest of their menstruating lifetime.
*Providing reusable pads at a subsidised cost. To begin, we will offer these to VTC and Night Study School girls and if the project succeeds we can scale it for a larger audience.
*Next year, we will train women from rural villages to produce reusable pads from cotton cloth and banana fibre. This will in turn enable them to get an additional source of income.
The awareness programme covered the basics of the menstrual cycle and the health, environmental and economic disadvantages, and risks of using disposable pads. 216 students and teachers attended the session and are keen on trying the new product. GEC is planning to organise more sessions like these, every Thursday from 3:30 – 4:45 pm on Zoom. If any committee from our Club or any organisation that has more than 20 women labourers or staff would like to conduct such a session for their respective beneficiaries, Saukhyam has agreed to help.
While conducting this session, we realised that many women were interested in buying the product but didn’t know how to buy online. To make women self-reliant, we plan working with Saukhyam to create a marketplace for women who want to sell these products and earn a livelihood. Saukhyam will make the product available and teach them, over zoom sessions, how to sell and also offer an initial loan to begin earning. This will create a two-sided offline marketplace of women who want to sell and women who want to purchase these products.
Do reach out to the Gender Equality Committee if you’d like to collaborate for this cause which is environmentally and economically good for society.
