Menstruation in the Eyes of Indian Law

Menstruation In The Eyes Of Indian Law And Society: The Battle For Basic Dignity#

Introduction To Menstruation And The Societal View#

“Menstrual Health is not a luxury, it’s a right”

The recent judgement by the Supreme Court of India, namely ‘Jaya Thakur v. Union of India’ recognised that menstrual health was an aspect of Right to Life and the right to free and compulsory education under Article 21 and Article 21A. This recognition and the steps provided by the apex court face major challenges, like legislative gaps, societal reform and problems in implementation. Menstruating women are demonised by the society, with them not being allowed to even enter the kitchens and or religious spaces, on the misconception of contaminating these places. Women, especially from non-urban spaces (predominantly across the states of Chattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra) are isolated and sent to “gaokar” or a hut in the outskirts of the village. This increases the feeling of isolation, fear and shame among women. Today in education and workspaces, there is an increase in dialogue about menstruation, even though, significant work is still required. The recent Jaya Thakur judgment is an exemplary initiative; there are still problems that follow up along with additional the gaps with respect to menstruating women need to be taken care of.

The Questions That Remain Unanswered#

Recently, the judgement, named “Jaya Thakur v. Government of India was passed by the Supreme Court on 30th January 2026. This judgement directed schools to have gender segregated washrooms, free sanitary products, Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) Corners and safe menstrual waste disposal. The judgement targets the lack of hygiene infrastructure in schools and menstrual poverty.

Menstruating women face significant challenges in our society, and the initiatives taken by the government face a paradoxical situation. The steps taken, if hasty and unplanned, may cause more challenges.

Debate related to Period Leave in Workspaces:

Women face significant exclusion in workplaces. World Economic Forum report in 2025, ranked India at number 131 in terms of gender parity, women are already often restricted to certain job roles and industries which limit the opportunities for women. Additionally, where this system has been adapted is both government and private sectors. Informal sectors like construction still remain unregulated, such jobs first require statutory level protections, which must be done as soon as possible. Due to non-regulations, women cannot afford to take a leave even when they are in immense pain. Period leave may also accelerate gender-based wage gaps, accelerate stereotypes against women, hence both the sides of the coin must be taken into account. Gender based wage gap increase is a problematic issue, as women still fight against gender-based wage gap, period leave must be well structured and implemented, planned properly, one of the methods for introducing period leave is mentioned and explained further in this essay.

Socio-Cultural Problems-#

There are some important topics that need to be touched upon, especially the exclusion which remains undiscussed. Exclusion of women from temples and kitchens violates Fundamental Rights like Article 14, Right to Equality a such discrimination is arbitrary and there are no scientifically proven causes for the alleged pollution, which the society believe that menstruating women cause. Such discrimination is done by family members themselves, most of the times.

Proper Implementation of the Judgement is mandatory. After the passing of the Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala commonly known as Sabarimala Judgment in 2018, (the constitutionality of menstruating women between the ages of 10-50 years being not being able to enter Sabarimala temple was challenged), women were allowed to access the temples. Its implementation was weak; multiple attempts were made by women to enter the temple, but they were blocked. Two women went in 2019 who actually entered the shrine but needed police protection further highlighting weakness of the implementation. Similarly, an initiative by the Ministry for Health and Family Welfare named, “Rastriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram”, which sought to provide pads for 6 Rs, could not be implemented successfully. The stigma of society related to menstrual health is a root cause for failure of initiatives and the absence of groundwork to pull off the schemes still renders a problem in the imposition of these schemes (SHAILZA AGARWAL AND RISHI RAJ, 2020). Observing this pattern, there is clearly a problem in groundwork implementation of these problems which further highlights the need to eliminate stigma among the masses

Rational Implementation of Religious Doctrine has to be done. A highly controversial opinion is that, religion should not be blindly implemented. Customs should not be coming at the cost of biological health. Religion should not be a justification for prejudice against a biological phenomenon. However, it does not mean that India should give away its belief system, but such belief systems should not harm human rights of the people. (SHAILZA AGARWAL AND RISHI RAJ, 2020). Expanding the Sabarimala Judgement, Justice DY Chandrachud held the opinion that, “The exclusion of women between the ages of 10-50 years by the Sabarimala Temple was contrary to constitutional morality and that it subverted the ideals of autonomy, liberty, and dignity”. He further addressed that the exclusion of women was a form of Untouchability violating Article 17 of the Constitution, and that Article 17 protects women from this kind of exclusion. Connecting this to Rational Implementation, Exclusion of women from entering the temple under the pretext of Customs violates Right to Equality under Article 14. This is again a justification for prejudice against biological phenomena.

Focus of a legislation-

Focus should be on all women by the legislation, it should protect all ages of women, women from all income groups. It should be well-rounded, targeting women working in all sectors including informal unrecognised ones. Extra day in workspaces for women- If the concept of period leave is implemented, workdays for women should be counted as extra for instance, if the total workdays in a month are 20, then women’s workdays can be shown as 21 days, which can help a woman to take one day leave. Potential Problems in the directives issued by the court viz. Jaya Thakur Case- While the Supreme Court ordered for gender-segregated, MHMs, and safe menstrual waste disposal, there are some bottlenecks. According to NITI Aayog Report 2026, 61,540 government schools themselves don’t have any usable toilet, how can gender-segregated washrooms be assured if thousands of schools lack basic usable toilets? While the court mandates Ministry of Education to collect field data from all states and furnishing fresh compliance reports to the Supreme Court every three months, how to ensure that the Ministry officials are uncorrupted and the reports are not fabricated?

Mental Health Safeguards:#

Menstrual cycle and the processes of menstruation have an impact on women’s mental health. Due to hormonal changes in the body, anxiety and fear levels by progesterone hormone in a woman increase due to Pre- Menstrual Disorder or PMS. In addition, women face premenstrual dysmorphic disorder (PMDD) which impacts a women’s mind in a much harsher way. Constant fluctuations of Estrogen and Progesterone lead to rapid change in neurotransmitters, which causes anxiety, sleep problems and irritability. Appropriate mental health safeguards need to be taken by the government, by mental health screening and specialized counselling for menstruating women.

The Stigma In Society Related To Periods#

The lack of knowledge about menstruation increases ignorance related to well-being and health of women and their families, especially in middle-income and lower income families, this ignorance is accelerated by religious and cultural taboos related to menstruation. Elimination of Stigma among the masses is one of the most important things. All the issues mentioned above connect to one root cause- Societal Stigma. The root cause of all problems, including weak implementation of schemes, exclusion of women from the society is related to the stigma of menstruation. Increase in Dialogue about periods- Elimination of period related stigma is a joint responsibility among government and the population. Citizens themselves require an open-minded attitude to counter the stigma. Elimination of stigma will bring grassroot level change in our society.

Conclusion#

While Supreme Court continues to take steps to ensure protection of women, steps towards menstrual health taken by government needs a multi-layered approach. The first step is, eliminating the stigma about menstruation among masses. Then only future steps taken towards period health can be successfully implemented. Eliminating the stigma slowly, will uproot the root cause of all the problems faced by menstruating women.

Additionally, India had ratified Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in 1993. Discrimination against menstruating women, is a major form of discrimination and exclusion of women, like gaokar systems. Whereas socio-religious exclusions like restriction from entering kitchens and temples, begin discrimination from home. Still there is no proper legislation protecting menstruating women from discrimination, which directly goes against their fundamental rights. The battle for basic dignity is an elongated one, and the steps taken by government towards mitigating this stigma needs to be sustainable.

Citations#

• Diksha Ramesh, Breaking the Silence: Taboos and Social Stigma Surrounding Menstruation in Rural India, Global Pol'y Preview (July 8, 2020), https://gppreview.com/2020/07/08/breaking-the-silence-taboos-and-social-stigma-surrounding-menstruation-in-rural-india/

• Over 1 Lakh Schools Lack Power, 98,500 Without Girls' Toilet: Niti Aayog Report, NDTV (May 8, 2026), https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/government-schools-lack-electricity-water-girl-toilet-teachers-math-skill-digital-education-niti-aayog-report-11465851.

• SCO Team, Sabarimala Temple Entry: Judgment in Plain English, Supreme Court Observer (Sept. 28, 2018), https://www.scobserver.in/reports/sabarimala-temple-entry-indian-young-lawyers-association-kerala-judgment-in-plain-english/.

• Shailza Agarwal & Rishi Raj, Menstrual Health Rights, 3 Int'l J.L. Mgmt. & Human. 693 (2020).

• World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2025 (June 2025), https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF\_GGGR\_2025.pdf.