Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is essential for menstruating persons. Despite being a basic amenity, many public spaces continue to fail to provide basic MHM. Women students of Presidency University, Kolkata repeatedly complained of many aspects which make menstruation a very painful and unhealthy process in the university campus.
Nirajana Sinha, a student of the Political Science department of the University told me, “There is only one menstrual pad vending machine in the entire campus which is inside the Girls Common Room (GCR). My classes are held in the rear end of the campus and if I get my periods then I have to come all across the long stretch of road to get to the GCR.” She added, “It sometimes becomes really painful for me when I get my cramps.” Kamalika Das, a student from the same department also added, “The quality of those pads is so bad that one cannot use those. They are small and also very sticky.”
The nearest shops which sell menstrual pads are located near Calcutta Medical College. It is a seven-minute walk from the campus. The area is heavily congested with traffic and a lot of pedestrians because of the book market along the street. Apart from this university, the street is also lined with the Calcutta University which attracts its own crowds. It almost takes 15-20 minutes to carry out the entire process of buying the menstrual pad and coming back to the campus.
Meghmala Ghosh, a student of English department reiterated the above points and added, “The vending machine in the GCR also does not work all the time. When it is empty, we ask around hoping some of our friends are carrying menstrual pads. If not, we have to go to the nearest shop to buy pads.” Rimjhim Sinha a student of Sociology department said, “The pads are of very low quality and they are also unsuitable for use. Also, the pad vending machine accepts only Rupee 10 coins, which is not always available with us.” She added, “In this situation, I have to always go to the shop near Calcutta Medical College.”
I called up Shruti Roy Muhuri who was elected as the GCR Secretary in the last council election. When asked she said that she was aware of the quality of the menstrual pads and the problem which students faced because there is only one such machine in the entire campus. She said, “Very soon there will be an installation of two more menstrual pad vending machines as confirmed by the authorities. One machine will be installed in between Baker and Derozio Building which will be accessible to students from both the buildings, and the other one will be installed near Netaji Subhash Building.” When asked about the quality of menstrual pads she said that she communicated with the administrative authorities and had been trying to get better quality menstrual pads for these two new machines and also for the existing machine in the GCR.
Many of the interviewees and Shruti also raised the point of the proper disposal of the used menstrual pads. Shruti said, “There is only one incinerator in the campus and that too inside a washroom inside the GCR. If one of the students is using that particular washroom, others cannot dispose of the used pads safely.” Nirajana also said that she had seen many unsafe disposals of used menstrual pads since there is no proper way to dispose of them. She also added that if one has to run to GCR every time they want to dispose of a used pad then it becomes cumbersome.
Shruti also stated that she and many other students have reached the authority multiple times and had submitted deputations about the problems they are facing because of the quality of pads and unavailability of more than one machine in the campus. The authority allegedly replied that they are trying to mitigate the problems but they lack funds, according to Sriroopa Dutta, a student of the English Department. When I tried to reach the authority through an email to verify the facts I didn’t get any response.
Presidency University, Kolkata is a prime example of how public institutions like Universities because of structural biases make it very difficult for menstruating persons to safely access these spaces. MHM if not properly maintained and implemented makes it difficult for menstruating persons to equally access these spaces as compared to their men peers. Ensuring equal access to all is an important aspect of gender equality, and if the conditions and structures for meeting the same are not met then it becomes extremely difficult.