Periods – a topic that is most unnecessarily perceived as taboo. For generations, this natural
part of any girl’s life has been shushed and kept behind closed doors as something that
restricts them in the eyes of society.
While the stigma surrounding this subject has always been prevalent, a very common
situation in which it is seen today is in schools. Due to the lack of conversation, many students have absolutely no idea of the changes their bodies go through and how to deal with them. Having this as the status quo, makes it even more challenging for girls to acquire the supplies they need and reach out for help.
As a collective student body, my class decided that we wanted to have an open discussion about periods and make it so that girls in our class had an easier time. Our class teacher broached the idea of a period box, which some of her previous students had introduced. Together we agreed upon the idea and set up a simple decorated carboard box, placed on the teacher’s desk, the symbolism of it being out in the open was not lost on us, containing pads, liners, small disposable bags, sweets, and other supplies.
Barely an innovation, the period box is a necessity. A necessity that, for some reason, hasn’t
been comfortably introduced in middle and high school classrooms till now.
It not only saved many from the distress of having to run around the school looking for
products if they had left them at home or were unprepared, but it also created a comfortable
space for girls in every classroom.
However, we did face some challenges along the way. Certain students had specific
preferences of the supplies they used which we accommodated and added. Others suffering
from extreme menstrual pain, which nothing already provided in the box could help with, got notes from their parents which allowed them to receive medication from the nurse.
Speaking to both teachers and students of my class, I was pleasantly surprised to receive
incredibly positive feedback regarding the implementation of the box. Female students found the box to be extremely useful and made them feel at ease in school, knowing they had a backup. Male students felt that it had been important to gain a new perspective and to help the girls of the class out. As for our class teacher, she was overjoyed at the amount of unity and amity it encouraged. She said she loved seeing all the students of the class interact and have important discussions surrounding the topic, which brought up other issues to be
handled in the process, as well as everyone forming a new level of comradery with each
other.
An unexpected result of the box, on top of making school life easier for girls and more
comfortable for them, was how open it made the class feel and how it brought the students
together.
In conclusion, the period box was just a small step taken by some 8th graders in the hopes of
possibly helping to dismantle the stigma around something that every woman must deal
with throughout her lifetime.
Written by Keya Arora Chaudhuri
This solutions-focussed article has been written by a student journalist as part of the April'23 cohort of the Re-Imagining Program.