Bear in mind when as a younger woman you had simply began to menstruate, the largest concern was if we stained our garments. A secret code ‘look’ was developed and handed to greatest buddies or some other feminine to test if there was a leakage.
Whereas the inconvenience turns into extra bearable with age, the horror of staining continues for many of our lives. This can be a acquainted story to any girl, and it was the identical for Ira Guha, the founding father of Asan, a menstrual cup firm.
“I was fairly athletic as a child and run round. I liked being outside and was an lively basketball participant in my faculty. I keep in mind being in Chhattisgarh for a state-level sport and being on my interval. There have been no bins within the faculty, so I needed to carry the dirty pad in my bag,” she shares with The Higher India.
Strolling round feeling disgusted and embarrassed all day are a few of her core experiences that formed her as a lady within the menstrual hygiene enterprise, she says. Together with her firm Asan, she has helped over 15,000 girls in 60 villages in Karnataka swap to menstrual cups thus far.
“The cup is designed to make intervals comfy for each girl. On the subject of rural girls, menstrual cups may help make intervals simpler and more healthy for them,” she emphasises.
The muse of Asan
Born in Bengaluru, Karnataka, she moved to the UK when she was 18 to pursue her increased training. “I used to be working as a administration marketing consultant in London and saved visiting residence each from time to time. In 2016-17, the film Padman was getting extremely popular and there was loads of dialog round menstrual hygiene,” she says.
Recalling one among her visits throughout this time, she says, “I keep in mind that our cook dinner was on go away and I had referred to as to ask the explanation. She informed me that she had a rash resulting from utilizing low-cost sanitary pads.”
Curious, Ira requested her to convey the pad as soon as she recovered to test its high quality.
“I might by no means think about utilizing that pad, because it was very harsh and the fabric didn’t appear to be absorbent. It was at the moment that I launched her to menstrual cups. I used to be utilizing one within the UK however there have been no manufacturers on the time promoting them in India,” she explains.
The maid had questions and Ira patiently answered all of them. “After I requested her if she needed to strive one as I used to be carrying a spare, she immediately agreed. Over the course of her subsequent interval, I requested her if she seen any distinction and she or he had some good evaluations,” she says.
The maid was in a position to do her work higher and in her phrases “didn’t really feel like she was on her interval”.
This struck Ira and she or he continued to carry menstrual cups for ladies in India. “At one level, I used to be carrying 10-15 menstrual cups on one journey,” she recollects.
“It was fairly natural, I used to be distributing them amongst gardeners within the society, extra home staff who heard about it and so forth. Quick ahead a few years, I stop my job and went to check at Harvard. I used to be telling about my work in India to a professor who urged that I ought to design my very own cup,” she says.
She shares, “So I developed the Asan cup by working with an engineer on the Harvard Innovation Lab. We completely studied current menstrual cups in nice element, specializing in the best high quality cups out there globally.”
What makes Asan totally different?
Speaking concerning the analysis course of and the hurdles she confronted, she says, “Throughout product improvement, I confronted the problem of getting qualitative suggestions on the utilization of my cups, as I had distributed many cups all through India. I wanted detailed suggestions about points like leaking, overflowing, and luxury, however individuals weren’t sharing these brazenly with me.”
To resolve this, Ira included each single one among her buddies within the person group. “I had girls throughout the US and UK, primarily contacts of my buddies, who had been keen to offer detailed suggestions,” she says.
One other main problem was the scepticism round individuals utilizing menstrual cups.
“Many individuals informed me that India wasn’t prepared for such a product and that girls ought to follow conventional strategies. I overcame this problem as a result of I’m a person of the Asan Cup myself, and it has remodeled my life. I can sleep by the evening, swim, do yoga, and run half a marathon comfortably.”
She provides, “My expertise, together with the constructive suggestions from my early person group—together with home staff and different girls who tailored to the cup immediately—confirmed me that not solely are girls prepared for this, however they’re additionally calling out for it as a result of the present merchandise are of poor high quality.”
It’s Ira’s private expertise and the experiences of ladies round her that gave her the conviction to problem those that stated “Indian girls weren’t prepared and insertable merchandise”.
“As a lady, I knew the necessity was there,” she asserts. Ira got here out with the Asan Cup within the 12 months 2017.
A utility-based product, Ira enlists the advantages of utilizing an Asan Cup. “First, the Asan Cup prices simply as a lot as six months’ value of pads however could be reused for ten years. Secondly, sustainability: One Asan Cup’s life is the same as utilizing 2,500 pads or tampons. Thirdly, effectiveness: One Asan Cup holds as much as thrice greater than your common pad, so you’ll be able to go as much as 12 hours with out altering it,” she says.
“Quantity 4 is security. In contrast to pads and tampons which can comprise undisclosed elements, the Asan cup is made from medical-grade silicone, licensed secure for well being.”
“And eventually discretion and comfort. The compact dimension of the Asan cup ensures discreet use, permitting customers to keep up privateness about their menstrual cycle, avoiding the potential stigma related to seen pads or material rags,” she provides.
To not point out the discount of sanitary pad waste which is reversed by means of a menstrual cup, she explains.
The right way to attain rural girls?
To succeed in girls in rural areas, Asan additionally has a complete behavioural change mannequin.
“We’ve got a programme to onboard and educate individuals on utilizing the Asan Cup. The important thing to our behavioural change mannequin is that training should come from a trusted supply. For instance, as somebody from Bengaluru whose first language is English, I won’t be a trusted supply in a village.”
She provides, “For this reason we employed native social staff and requested them to make use of the cups themselves. They then educated rural girls on the best way to use the cup, which eradicated scepticism as a result of the knowledge was coming from a trusted supply.”
For each Asan Cup the corporate sells, they donate one at no cost, primarily by their NGO companions in rural areas. “We additionally collaborate with numerous NGO companions, places of work, and factories to supply subsidised schemes, making the Asan Cup extra accessible.”
Ira engages with girls from SHG, trains them after which sends them to villages to introduce girls with the Asan Cup.
“Every recipient receives a clutch storage pouch, a person handbook of their native language, and an in depth academic session performed by an area well being employee. Additionally they obtain the well being employee’s contact for follow-up classes over the following six months. This complete programme ensures that everybody has the sources and help wanted to soundly use the Asan Cup,” she says.
To this point, she has reached out to fifteen,000 girls in 60 villages in Karnataka and Kanakapura. “Each single girl in these areas are utilizing the Asan cup,” she says.
Nagamma, 36, who hails from Kanakapura, complained that she will’t put on her favorite white sarees fearing stains throughout her intervals.
“However I’ve been utilizing the Asan cup for a number of months now and the situation has modified. The road between the interval and non-period days has blurred. I’ve really helpful it to my niece now as nicely. The pads used to provide me rashes on the thighs however now there are not any such points. The perfect half is I put on no matter color saree I need with none concern of stains,” she says.
Jayalakshmi, 38, highlighted that she needed to put the used pads in a plastic bag and burn them. “I had no different selection, I simply burned them when nobody was watching. However not with the Asan cup, there isn’t any want for that. Moreover, I used to hate travelling to work whereas sporting a pad within the warmth however now I don’t really feel any discomfort,” she shares.
Whereas Asan constantly reaches girls in rural India, Ira believes that her work isn’t over. “There are nonetheless a whole lot of hundreds of ladies utilizing rags and missing any entry to menstrual hygiene. If even one girl is with out entry to menstrual hygiene, my job isn’t over. As an organization, we need to eradicate interval poverty in India.”
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(Edited by Padmashree Pande; All photos credit score: Ira Guha)
