In this picture, taken last week, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is seen inaugurating four vending machines installed to dispense sanitary napkins in the ladies’ washrooms of its New Delhi office.
Can you spot the problem in this picture? There are no women in the picture. It’s almost like that they were so preoccupied with the organising work and inviting the chief guests that they forgot to invite the women for whom it is mainly intended for.
A few women did actually attend the event, from what we hear. But a female spokesperson told the Quartz “the photographer was more keen on clicking the photo of the additional secretary” and his entourage. Almost all the important guests at the event were men and this particular image is the only one circulated to the media”.
Given that this event was being held in a government building, it’s hard to imagine that the organisers couldn’t find one woman official to act as chief guest at the inauguration. The only explanation here is that gender and hierarchy still play a very important role, even in women’s issues.
And this isn’t the only such instance of it either. We scanned the web and found a few more such instances where men inaugurated a vending machine intended for women. Here’s one of them.
This sanitary napkin vending machine inauguration event took place at a girl’s school in Dhakuria, Kolkata and given that it’s a girl’s school, with a majority of female staff and possibly a female principal too, it’s appalling that the people featured in this inauguration are all men.
If you really need to think about how ludicrous it sounds, just think of an all-women contingent inaugurating a sperm bank or a prostrate gland treatment centre. Got the mental picture now, did you?
It’s a mark of our yet, unchanged mindset that even an event like this, intended for women, does not have adequate representation of women. And we still have a long way to go when it comes to representation – in the government, the Parliament, boardrooms and power broker circles. This is but a small anomaly, but it’s a marked indication of what we still lack – big time!
Don’t get me wrong, the sanitary napkin vending machine is a brilliant invention, more so because it partly solves so much of India’s menstrual hygiene problem, if properly implemented. For young girls from families too poor or too backward to buy sanitary pads, they can avail of it at school. In case they are too shy to buy a pack from the store, these machines installed in ladies washrooms are so much more convenient.
And it goes a long way in dealing with menstrual taboos – it makes dealing with menstruation that much more convenient, makes it a matter of routine. The fact that these machines are installed at schools and places of work is an indication for women in backward societies that it’s perfectly alright to work during your periods.
Sure, getting a man to inaugurate shows that men also need to know about these issues and be more understanding about them. But getting a woman to inaugurate it would instill confidence in other women that this is a natural phenomenon and there is nothing to be ashamed about it – which is a more urgent need today.
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