Celebrating International Women’s Day..

With an objective to create awareness and educate the rural women artisans about the sensitive issue of keeping personal hygiene during the monthly menstrual cycle, an awareness workshop was organized by SETU Society on the apt occasion of women’s day.
The topic is very sensitive in Indian society and equally important like any other women related issue, be it women’s education or health. However, it has not been given due attention because of the natural shyness & associated taboos about the same in public. It’s high time now that we should talk and create awareness about the issue, as this can help in averting many health ailments of women because of improper hygiene in those days of the month.

The workshop was conducted in a remote village in Bharatpur, Rajasthan. The participating women belonged to a self-help group and are working with us for more than 2 years now. The group makes handmade products from recycled textile scraps. Their products includes doormats, carpets and beautiful bags.. It is independently run by women artisans only.

The awareness workshop started with a general discussion on the topic. The participating women artisans were asked about their opinion on the subject. Later in the session, an Oscar nominated video film titled “Saheli ki paheli” was shown, which cleared a lot of misconceptions & false taboos..

SETU team explained to the women artisans how being educated and financially independent is of utmost importance for women, & how that can help her take care of herself and her family members in a much better way. An empowered society exists only when men and women are considered equals.

Towards the end of the session, free sanitary napkin packets were distributed. Also, in a question answer round about personal hygiene, those who answered correct were rewarded with surprise gifts by SETU.. 🙂

A total of 52 people attended the workshop.