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To Pad or Not to Pad: Towards Better Sanitary Care for Women in Indian Slums

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  • Supriya Garikipati
  • Camille Boudot

Abstract

A number of programmes have recently been initiated to popularise the use of sanitary pads among poor women in developing countries. In this light, we review the prevailing menstrual practices in different contexts across India, as well as the initiatives undertaken to improve sanitary care. We also report findings from a study amongst women in slums of Hyderabad. We find high usage of sanitary pads (56 to 64 percent), suggesting that development initiatives have percolated down to the urban poor. Furthermore, we find that although a large number of cloth users (57 percent) are willing to change practice, an overwhelming number of them (94 percent) elicit a preference for re‐usable cloth pads. This suggests a disengagement with public policy discourses on menstrual care that have so far focused singularly on promotion of sanitary pads. We draw upon these results to comment on better sanitary care for women slum dwellers in a rapidly urbanising context. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Supriya Garikipati & Camille Boudot, 2017. "To Pad or Not to Pad: Towards Better Sanitary Care for Women in Indian Slums," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 32-51, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:29:y:2017:i:1:p:32-51
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    Cited by:

    1. Silvia Castro & Clarissa Mang, 2023. "Breaking the Silence: Group Discussions, and the Adoption of Welfare-Improving Technologies," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 474, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    2. Mang, Clarissa & Castro, Silvia, 2023. "Breaking the Silence," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277639, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Silvia Castro & Kristina Czura, 2021. "Social Norms and Misinformation: Experimental Evidence on Learning about Menstrual Health Management in Rural Bangladesh," CESifo Working Paper Series 9081, CESifo.
    4. Castro, Silvia & Czura, Kristina, 2021. "Social Norms and Information in Menstrual Health Management," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242423, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Supriya Garikipati, 2020. "Asymmetric Information in Menstrual Health and Implications for Sustainability: Insights from India," Working Papers 202015, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    6. Kristina Czura & Andreas Menzel & Martina Miotto, 2023. "Improved Menstrual Health and the Workplace: An RCT with Female Bangladeshi Garment Workers," CESifo Working Paper Series 10289, CESifo.
    7. Tavishi Tewary & Vranda Jain & Nandini Agarwal, 2021. "Moving Towards Menstrual Hygiene: Awareness and Acceptance of Sanitary Napkins at Bottom of the Pyramid," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 20(1), pages 73-91, June.
    8. Kristina Czura & Andreas Menzel & Martina Miotto, 2019. "Menstrual Health, Worker Productivity and Well-being among Female Bangladeshi Garment Workers," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp649, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    9. Punita Bhatt & Supriya Garikipati, "undated". "Culture, Collectivism and Empowerment: The Role of Feminist Ideologies in Women’s Work and Organization," Working Papers 202108, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    10. Angeli, Federica & Jaiswal, Anand Kumar & Shrivastava, Saumya, 2022. "Integrating poverty alleviation and environmental protection efforts: A socio-ecological perspective on menstrual health management," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    11. Ranjula Bali Swain & Supriya Garikipati & Fan Yang Wallentin, 2020. "Does Foreign Aid Improve Gender Performance in Recipient Countries?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1171-1193, October.
    12. Supriya Garikipati & Penelope A. Phillips-Howard, 2022. "Information, Choice and Menstrual Outcomes: Evidence from a CommunityBased Intervention in Indi," Working Papers 202211, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    13. Ashish Joshi & Arushi Arora & Chioma Amadi-Mgbenka & Nidhi Mittal & Shruti Sharma & Bhavya Malhotra & Ashoo Grover & Archa Misra & Menka Loomba, 2019. "Burden of household food insecurity in urban slum settings," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, April.
    14. Supriya Garikipati & Penelope A. Phillips-Howard, "undated". "What’s the Bleeding Problem? Period Poverty, Information Failure and Consumer Preferences in the Global South," Working Papers 202107, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.

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