Playing with a Pad
Could simply wearing a pad while menstruating make young women in India not want to play sports, or for that matter, never want to start?
During the COVID-19 lockdown, I ran out of tampons and had to wear pads. One evening I went for a run on my period and I observed how messy it felt to be active in a pad. Due to police curfew, I could not run through my neighborhood in Chennai. Instead, I was forced to trot back and forth on 25 meters of pavement next to my apartment building. Each time I pivoted to turn, I could feel the pad rubbing against my inner thighs; plus, I lost track of how many times I felt the urge to check my light-colored shorts for leakage. The discomfort stripped me of the freedom of mind I usually find while exercising.
The next day I found one extra tampon which I decided to use for the evening run. During the run, I observed how much more confident I felt knowing I had a tampon in. The contrast to the evening before was startling. It was so startling that it led me down a rabbit hole of sorts, all around the following question: could simply wearing a pad while menstruating make young women in India not want to play sports, or for that matter, never want to start?
Tampons have never been key to India’s menstruation story — pads have. Or maybe, more accurately, cloth pads have. According to a 2015 menstrual health report on India by FSG[1], of the country’s 355 million menstruating women, approximately 88% use homemade products such as cloth while 11.8% use store-bought pads and liners. The remaining 0.2%? Those were the tampon users. When we zoom in on the data and only look at young adult women, we can see from India’s National Family Health Survey Report for 2019–21[2], that Indian women aged 15–24 years old also almost exclusively use pads. The report states that 64% of these young women use sanitary napkins, 50% use homemade cloth pads and 15% use locally prepared pads (note: this is not based out of 100% as respondents reported multiple methods).
Based on these statistics, it is safe to assume that the majority of menstruating girls being asked to join sports in India will wear some form of a pad while playing. Yet, this fact never seems to come up in conversations about attracting more Indian girls to sports. The conversations that do come up around this topic usually center around the major barriers to entry: lack of expectations, lack of opportunities, and parental concerns around safety and stereotypes. But shouldn’t the physical discomfort of playing in a pad and the mental discomfort of wondering if you are leaking through your pad onto your playing clothes also be considered a barrier to entry?
I decided to call up some friends — Indian female athletes from across the country. These were young women I knew well from years of road trips to tournaments and gender-based NGO work. These young women were from modest homes across India, speaking English as a second or third language, and who grew up in households of women who wore pads. I asked them questions such as: Do you wear cloth pads, store-bought pads or something else while playing? What is your experience playing with a pad? Does wearing a pad on your period ever make you not want to play sports? Luckily, with lockdown in full swing across the country, we had plenty of time to talk.
Lack of safe, clean facilities
Aparna, a 27-year-old from urban west India who wears store-bought pads told me that pads never stopped her from playing but “[at tournaments] I rush to the washroom to change my pad. I’m always worried about [the] washroom. Like, where is it? In one tournament, the washroom was there but it was so dirty, I would go to a friends’ house to change. And then come back to the field.”
Potential solutions: Coaches, ensure there are adequate washrooms for girls which include a rubbish bin and if possible, clean water.
Shame and fear around exposing your pad through your sports clothes
Avani, a 23-year-old from rural south India who wears store-bought pads told me, “No, pads didn’t stop me but I was scared because the pad doesn’t stay in the same place; it moves around. In front of so many people at a practice or tournament it’s hard to adjust it. Since the pad is really thick, I feel like other people can see the pad shape through my shorts. I’ve been frightened about that.”
Avani’s fear shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s important to understand the heavy culture of shame around menstruation in India. A woman’s fear of being shamed if she leaks blood onto her clothing, reveals the shape of her pad through her clothing, or has period related body odor is a serious concern. In an extreme example, in 2017 a girl from southern India committed suicide for being shamed by a teacher in front of her peers for having leaked period blood onto her clothes and the school bench[3].
So, when Avani mentions that she feels frightened by others seeing her pad through her shorts, it is a real fear, not a casual concern. Her love for the game must be fantastically high to break those barriers of fear and shame.
Potential solutions: Coaches, never use white shorts for uniforms. Consider low-cost period underwear or spandex biking shorts be included in your uniform kit so the girls have a layer in between underwear and their uniform shorts/pants.
Not understanding how to use store-bought pads
Asha, a 26-year-old from Northeast India told me, “I started with cloth. My mother also used cloth. I learned using pads later. One rainy day all the cloth was wet. I had to go to my aunt’s place and she gave me a pad and I wore it. It was leaking everywhere. My friends saw and asked what is happening. My aunt saw and said you have to put the sticky part on your underwear. Not on your body. I had it on upside down. That is my journey.”
Potential solutions: Coaches, bring in an outside facilitator or conduct a session yourself on menstrual hygiene and present the various options girls can use as well as the pros and cons of how it feels to play in cloth pads, store-bought pads or other options like tampons. Do not assume the girls know how to use these products.
Not having any cloth or access to pads
I asked Asha, did wearing a pad stop you from playing? “To be honest, yes. We didn’t know how to manage it — we used cloth pads. It was very difficult actually to wear the heavy cloth and run.”
I followed up by asking Asha about the girls she coaches in tribal areas of Assam and Meghalaya. Do the girls play on their periods? Do they use cloth pads or store-bought pads? “Here in some [tribal] communities, they have their own ways. [The girls] can run, they can do anything. Tribal communities — they allow their girls to play. But during periods they will not.” Asha followed up by explaining that the girls she coaches don’t have extra cloth or money to buy store-brand pads so they won’t typically play on their period. Even the earlier mentioned FSG report states that store-bought pads are considered “aspirational” for many Indian women.
Potential solutions: Coaches, can you provide pads free of cost to all the girls on the team at the beginning of the season? Do not single out children because of their socio-economic background or expect them to ask you for pads. Consider a fundraising campaign to offset the cost of pads. Another idea is to make an announcement that pads will be readily available in the first aid box. Period poverty is a major discussion point across the globe.
This menstrual hygiene day, May 28th, let us address ways that ensure young Indian women playing on their period, and therefore likely playing with a pad, a much more comfortable and inviting experience.
*All names have been changed for privacy
[1] https://www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/resources-and-publications/library/details/2581#
