SC for sensitisation of male teachers, students to deal with stigma associated with menstruation

Highlighting the need to sensitise male teachers and students, the Supreme Court on Friday said the whole ecosystem has to be sterilized of the stigma associated with menstruation or the infrastructural efforts would remain underutilized.

Highlighting the need to sensitise male teachers and students, the Supreme Court on Friday said the whole ecosystem has to be sterilized of the stigma associated with menstruation or the infrastructural efforts would remain underutilized. In a landmark judgment to ensure gender justice and educational equity, the top court declared the right to dignified menstrual health as part of the right to life and education under the Constitution. A bench comprising justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan issued a slew of directions including one asking all states and Union territories to provide free oxo-biodegradable sanitary napkins to girl students and functional, gender-segregated toilets for all the students. Authoring a 126-page judgement, Justice Pardiwala dedicated a section to the ''Role of Men in Menstruation'' and emphasized that the school environment is not a ''monolith of females'' and that male teachers and students must be sensitized. ''The environment at school is not a monolith of females, it consists of young boys, male teachers, and male staff. Until the whole ecosystem is sterilized of the stigma associated with menstruation, the infrastructural efforts would remain underutilized,'' the judgment said. It said the issue was far more than an infrastructural problem. ''Menstruation should not be a topic that is only shared in hushed whispers. It is crucial that boys are educated about the biological reality of menstruation. A male student, unsensitized towards the issue, may harass a menstruating girl child which may discourage her from attending school,'' it said. It emphasized on the role young boys and male teachers play in the life of adolescent girl students. ''We have no hesitation in saying that if the spirit of Article 21A and the RTE Act is to be achieved in its fullest sense, it would not be sufficient that merely gender-segregated toilets or sanitary napkins are provided,'' it said. The absence of menstrual hygiene facilities in schools is not the only barrier that impedes education but rather it is only half the problem. More often than not, the environment within which the girl child is acquiring education, is equally impeding, if not a greater barrier, it said. Acknowledging the grim reality that the implementation of laws faces several challenges arising from deep-rooted attitudes and norms, it said a school may have adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene, but an unsupportive, rather hostile and stigmatized environment would render them of no use. Highlighting the role of male teachers, it said they must be sensitized to the needs of a girl child. ''For instance, a request to the restroom or the sudden need to leave the classroom must be treated with sensitivity rather than straight dismissal or invasive questioning. To put it briefly, we would say, ignorance breeds insensitivity, knowledge breeds empathy,'' it said.

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