For Durga Verma, stitching reusable cloth pads brought an income. It also changed how her family talks about menstruation.
For Durga Verma, stitching reusable cloth pads brought an income. It also changed how her family talks about menstruation.
Durga and her daughter pose together at the Ujaas Green production unit in Jalna, Maharashtra, where women from local self-help groups manufacture reusable cloth pads. The additional income from the work has helped support their family's education and household expenses.
Durga Bharat Singh Verma is forty years old. She lives in Jalna district, Maharashtra, with her husband, a son and three daughters. For most of her life, she was a homemaker.
Two years ago, she joined Ujaas Green, a cloth sanitary pad manufacturing unit where women from local self-help group (SHG) stitch and pack reusable cotton pads. She is one of twenty women in her self-help group who work at the unit. It was the first time she had worked outside the home.
Durga already knew how to stitch. A few days of training at the unit taught her the specifics: how to cut the cotton, layer it correctly, finish and pack the pads.
The money she earns pays the children's school fees and helps run the household.
Woh Pad Banaati Hai, Ghar Bhi Chalaati Hai
"Meri thodi bahut madad hoti hai mere mister ko. Gaadi seedhi chalti hai." (I am able to help my husband a little. The household runs more smoothly.)
She may say it modestly, but her income has become an important part of the family's monthly budget and livelihood.
Every morning, she finishes the cooking and household work before leaving for the unit by ten. She is back by five, in time to welcome her children and husband home from school, college and work.
Growing up, she had been told to stay apart during her periods. Menstruation was not something the family spoke about openly, it was a taboo.
Now her son knows where his mother works. Her husband understands. When her daughters have their periods, the family talks about it without hesitation. When neighbours ask where she is going, she answers without missing a beat.
"Pad banane." (I am going to make pads)
Asked what makes her smile, Durga doesn't hesitate.
"Mere bachche. Mera husband. Parivar." My children. My husband. Family.
Darshana, Durga's fifteen-year-old daughter, had always been curious about what her mother does at the unit every day. Recently, Durga brought her along to see for herself how the cotton is cut, stitched and finished into the same reusable pad Darshana uses every month.
Asked about her mother, Darshana smiles.
"Mummy meri best friend hai."
Today, all four women in the family, Durga and her three daughters, Asmita, Anchal and Darshana, use the reusable cloth pad Durga stitches. It is washed, dried in the sun and used again. The stigma around menstrual hygiene has slowly disappeared.
