On the occasion of Menstrual Hygiene Day, 28th May, 2022, Myna Mahila Foundation’s annual Pad Parade initiative happened in the urban slum communities in the M-East ward of Mumbai. The purpose of the pad parade is to break stigmas around menstruation. 200+ men, women, boys, girls come together with slogans and banners made by girls from the slum community and walk the narrow, congested streets of the urban slums advocating loudly that menstruation is normal. Additionally, there was a Panel Discussion with Saleha Khan and Saniya Mistry, the ‘Gully Girl’ on menstrual health education and a stall exhibition that will include a period cycle to explain the biology of periods with an aim to normalize menstruation. Myna’s low cost, high quality sanitary pads and nutritious food was available at the stalls.
About Myna Mahila Foundation:
Myna Mahila Foundation is a globally recognized women’s health and employment organization founded by young entrepreneur Suhani Jalota, and a group of slum community leaders based in Mumbai’s slums. They operate on three pillars which are, they employ women, improve menstrual health and build trusted networks for women. They organize a variety of activities under each pillar with the goal of developing women leaders who are financially stable, confident and have more agency in the household and community to make decisions.
Myna Mahila Foundation was honored to host Meghan Markle during her philanthropic visit to India back in 2018, and interacted with the women employed at Myna and learned more about their cause. Following which, they were also invited to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Royal wedding to receive donations in lieu of wedding gifts. Since 2015, they have directly impacted over 10,00,000 women at their doorstep in some of the most vulnerable slum communities and schools in Mumbai and aim to reach 20 Lakh women by 2025.