The discussion on the sanitary napkins has become the talk of the town since the release of the first trailer of Padman. In case of providing sanitary napkins for women, Madhya Pradesh is also included in the top states. In Madhya Pradesh, women not only talk freely on this issue but also are working on it.

Saroj Tiwari, who lives in Alipura village of Chhatarpur, has become the famous name in the state. Many officers of the Panchayat Department know her because the sanitary pads created by her committee are sold in all the districts of the state. Saroj tells that she got associated with the Self-help Group in 2010 but she started the work of making sanitary pads in the year 2014. She felt shy in the beginning as it is one of the sensitive topics in the country like us. Her husband is a farmer.
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Saroj is an employee and earns money through the work of sanitary pads making. Like Saroj, there are more than 5000 women who are associated with the work of sanitary-pad making in the state. They all working with Self-help Group. This group is making more than 4 Lakh sanitary pad packets in a month and 1500 to 2000 packets in a day. These packets are further delivered to big malls of the country. These women earn up to 5-6 thousand rupees per month.

Source: Pagalparrot

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A Place Where Exist More Than 5 Thousand ‘Pad Women’

An Examination of the Oscar-Winning Documentary and the Quiet Revolution Transforming Rural India

The title, “A Place Where Exist More Than 5 Thousand ‘Pad Women’,” does not refer to a single, geographical location on a map. Instead, it is a powerful, poetic metaphor for a sprawling, life-changing social revolution unfolding across the rural landscapes of India. It is a place built not of brick and mortar, but of self-help groups, small, low-cost sanitary pad manufacturing units, and the unyielding determination of women to shatter centuries of menstrual taboo and poverty. This quiet revolution, often led by groups of “Pad Women” or entrepreneurs, has been immortalized on the global stage through cinema, most notably in the Oscar-winning documentary short, ‘Period. End Of Sentence.’

This article explores the real-life phenomenon behind this evocative title, examining the challenges faced by women in rural India, the innovative solution that sparked an entire movement, and the film that brought the struggle and the triumph of the ‘Pad Women’ to the world.

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The Crisis of Silence: Why the ‘Pad Woman’ Emerged

To understand the profound significance of the “Pad Women” movement, one must first grasp the depth of the challenge they confronted: the issue of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in rural India.

For generations, menstruation has been shrouded in a dense veil of cultural, social, and religious taboos. In many parts of rural India, a woman on her period is often considered “unclean” or “untouchable.” This stigma has had severe, systemic consequences:

• Health Hazards: Lacking access to affordable, hygienic products, millions of women and girls resorted to using unsanitary materials like old rags, ash, sand, or newspaper. These practices led to widespread reproductive tract infections and other serious health issues, with studies indicating that poor menstrual hygiene is linked to a significant percentage of all reproductive diseases in India.
• Education Barrier: The shame and discomfort associated with periods often caused adolescent girls to miss several days of school each month, leading to missed education and, ultimately, a high school dropout rate. Experts have noted that a period can literally “end a sentence,” stopping a girl’s education prematurely.
• Economic Impoverishment: The reliance on makeshift, unhygienic materials prevented women from fully participating in the workforce, reinforcing the cycle of poverty.

The Spark: An Innovation from Adversity

The catalyst for the “Pad Women” movement was an invention born from one man’s love for his wife: Arunachalam Muruganantham. His story, popularized by the 2018 Bollywood feature film Pad Man, centered on his relentless quest to invent a low-cost machine that could manufacture affordable sanitary pads using locally sourced materials.

Muruganantham’s low-cost sanitary napkin machine was a game-changer because it offered a decentralized solution. Instead of relying on expensive multinational corporations, the machine could be installed in a village, transforming a social problem into a micro-enterprise opportunity. This innovative machine, costing around 75,000 rupees for a manual version, provided employment for approximately 10 individuals and could produce between 200 and 250 pads a day, which were sold at extremely low prices (sometimes as low as ₹1–₹2 per pad).

This innovation became the technical foundation for the widespread network of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) that embody the ‘Place Where Exist More Than 5 Thousand ‘Pad Women’.’

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The Ultimate Case Study: ‘Period. End Of Sentence.’

The most critically acclaimed and globally resonant depiction of this movement is the 2018 documentary short, ‘Period. End Of Sentence.’, directed by Rayka Zehtabchi and produced by Guneet Monga. This film provided a deeply intimate look into one of the countless villages participating in this quiet revolution, bringing the struggles and triumphs of the ‘Pad Women’ of Kathikhera, Hapur district, Uttar Pradesh, to a worldwide audience.

The film’s journey began with a group of high school students in Los Angeles, known as The Pad Project, who raised over $55,000 through various fundraisers to purchase a pad-making machine for the village.

Key Narratives of the Documentary

• The Power of Naming: The documentary shows a group of women—including central figures like Sneha, Rekha, and Shabana—learning to operate the machine and establishing their own sanitary pad company. They name their brand “FLY” because, as one of the women explains, they want girls “to soar” or “to arise.” The name instantly transforms the enterprise from a mere production unit into a symbol of ambition and liberation.
• Breaking the Taboo: One of the most poignant moments in the documentary is the initial reluctance of villagers, especially young girls, to even utter the word “period” or “menstruation.” When asked, the girls giggle shyly, and older women express a quiet, enduring shame. The documentary highlights the cultural battle required just to have a conversation, let alone sell a product.
• Economic Empowerment: Beyond hygiene, the film focuses on the economic independence the factory provides. For women who were previously confined by domestic life and financial dependence, earning an income—even a modest one—provides a new sense of worth and agency within their families and community. They sell their products door-to-door, challenging the male-dominated retail space where women were often too embarrassed to ask for a packet of pads from a male shopkeeper.

Global Impact and Accolades

The film’s 2019 Academy Award win for Best Documentary Short Subject was a momentous victory, not just for the filmmakers, but for the entire menstrual hygiene movement.

• Mainstreaming the Conversation: The Oscar victory ensured that a topic previously considered a “painfully taboo topic” was discussed on the world’s most prestigious stage. Director Rayka Zehtabchi acknowledged this in her acceptance speech, exclaiming, “I’m not crying because I’m on my period or anything. I can’t believe a film on menstruation won an Oscar.”
• Inspiring Action: The success of the film led to increased awareness and funding for The Pad Project and other NGOs, enabling the installation of more pad-making machines and the expansion of menstrual health education to more villages.

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The Reality of the ‘More Than 5 Thousand’ Movement

While ‘Period. End Of Sentence.’ tells the story of one village, the number “More Than 5 Thousand ‘Pad Women’” is an accurate reflection of the movement’s true scale across India. This revolution is powered by the Self-Help Group (SHG) model, a cornerstone of grassroots women’s empowerment initiatives throughout the country.

The ‘Pad Women’ are not a single, centralized organization but thousands of autonomous groups working under various NGOs, government schemes, and independent social enterprises.

The SHG Model and Its Scale

• Thousands of Micro-Entrepreneurs: The NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) launched the ‘My Pad My Right’ programme, a pan-India initiative to provide sanitary pad-making machines and training to SHGs in 70 districts. This project, along with countless others, has facilitated the creation of self-sustaining micro-businesses nationwide, involving thousands of women.
• Regional Networks: Just in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, which was an early adopter of the low-cost model, there were approximately 100 sanitary napkin manufacturing units a decade ago, with some groups having helped 150,000 women shift to hygienic products.
• The Economic Multiplier: The impact extends far beyond the immediate production team. One sanitary napkin manufacturing unit supported by a major corporation in Hyderabad directly employs around 60 women and indirectly supports another 200 women through packaging, promotion, and sales, creating a sustainable source of income. Simultaneously, educational sessions related to these programs have been noted to empower over 20,000 women on menstrual hygiene.
• The Dream of Scale: Individual SHGs set ambitious targets, with some aiming to manufacture and market as many as 50,000 napkins in a single year, showcasing the collective business potential of this fragmented, nationwide enterprise.

The women in these SHGs are not just laborers; they are entrepreneurs who have become agents of social change. They are the manufacturers, marketers, and most critically, the educators. They go door-to-door, selling their low-cost pads and simultaneously initiating crucial conversations about menstrual health, which ultimately saves lives, keeps girls in school, and combats the patriarchal shame that has persisted for centuries.

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Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy of the ‘Pad Women’

“A Place Where Exist More Than 5 Thousand ‘Pad Women’” is the new geography of women’s empowerment in India. It is a world where:

• Taboo is Replaced by Trade: Menstruation is no longer solely a source of shame but a sustainable business venture.
• Stigma is Replaced by Solidarity: Women who once suffered in silence now form self-help groups, providing each other with employment, dignity, and a platform for collective action.
• Poverty is Challenged by Production: The income generated by these micro-factories gives women financial control and a voice in household decisions, slowly but surely redefining gender roles in rural communities.

The Oscar-winning documentary, ‘Period. End Of Sentence.’, serves as the most powerful cinematic proof that this “place” exists—a place where entrepreneurship meets activism, where a basic product becomes a tool for revolution, and where every woman who joins an SHG and presses a machine into motion adds her story to the collective of over 5,000 ‘Pad Women’ who are soaring toward a future of health, education, and equality. Their work ensures that for the next generation, a period will finally and firmly end a sentence, not a girl’s destiny.