Does Employment And Autonomy Influence Safe Menstrual Hygiene In India?

Menstrual Hygiene is often considered vital for formulating public health policies in developing economies like India, because the overall wellbeing and social development of women could remarkably be compromised due to poor menstrual hygiene. This motivates us to analyse vital factors determining menstrual hygiene with an intent to suggest health policies related to menstrual hygiene.

The study finds that unemployed women practice better menstrual hygiene compared to the employed ones. Furthermore, the role of employment is found to be significant only if a woman possesses autonomy, reflecting the complementarity between impact of autonomy and employment. Additionally, given that a woman is employed, those working in non-agriculture sector are found to demonstrate safe hygiene practices.

The study finds that women working in agriculture have poor menstrual hygiene compared to both unemployed women and those working in non-agricultural sector. This suggests better sanitation infrastructure at farms. Also, if sanitation facilities are made available to women their impact on menstrual hygiene depends on their autonomy status. Thus, policies pertaining to enhance sanitation facilities must accord with autonomy status of women.

Views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinion or stand of the University.