Ella Pad

"Press Release for Pad Corner at Boi Mela"

We are deeply shocked to see the gender blind attitude of Bangla Academy to withdraw the sanitary napkins campaign at ‘Boi Mela’ today. We are not talking about the promotion of any particular product. We are doing advocacy against the discrimination, breaking taboo and ensuring ‘menstrual equity’ in our society. We do protest against this sort of discriminatory attitude against our 35 million menstruating women in Bangladesh. This is an insult to our mother, our sisters and our daughters. Getting access to sanitary pads are fundamental rights of all women. Women should be proud of their periods not feeling shy to hide it as a disease.

However, we do request the Bangla Academy immediately to allocate a special corner at ‘Boi Mela’ for menstrual hygiene in the interest of participating more women at the book fair. Moreover, in interest of health and environment, we should promote biodegradable sanitary pads instead of plastic one.