Meet Suman, the woman who is changing lives, one sanitary napkin at a time

As she takes the stage once again, to tell her story — the girl who rose from the unknown lanes of Hapur district in Western Uttar Pradesh to being an inspiration behind the Academy award-winning documentary — Suman is no less than a phoenix.

Fondly called the ‘Oscar Woman’ after the documentary, Period. End Of Sentence that’s inspired by Suman’s life won an Academy Award in 2019, Suman is spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene. Her fight for menstrual awareness is quite personal. “In my village, period is considered an omen. Women never discuss it freely,” says Suman.

However, it was Suman’s own experience with her first period that propelled her to start The Pad Project in 2017, a unique endeavour that offers menstrual products, mainly sanitary napkins, to rural women across India. “I was in school, wearing an all-white uniform when I got my first period. My teacher sent me home immediately. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I faced a lot of mental and physical trauma,” she says.

She further adds,“I used to use a cloth which exposed me to infection. Not to mention, I had to bear abdominal pain which means I was popping a lot of painkillers.”

With time, Suman realised that her health, like innumerable other Indian women was deteriorating, due to a lack of acceptance, understanding, and menstrual tools. Things became worse for her after she got married in 2002. Lack of toilets added to her ordeal. Her patriarchal and restricting marital household even curtailed her movement and freedom of expression.

Suman became a hope for rural women, three years ago, when she established a small factory with a few daring women in Hapur. They started manufacturing clean sanitary pads. However, this journey had its struggles as she was constantly threatened by men.

“I remember being hit on my head on a winter night while returning home from the factory,” recalls Suman.

Yet, she didn’t give up. In fact, this incident made way to a large wave of angry but determined women, who became the ambassadors of The Pad Project and travelled door to door educating women and distributing pads.

“My idea was not only to introduce these women to menstrual hygiene but to also make them independent and self-sufficient,” she explains.

Suman and her team have bridged many chasms by starting conversations to end the stigma attached with menstrual health.