Socio-cultural aspects of menstruation in an urban slum in Delhi, India

This paper attempts to understand the experience of menstruation in the soc io-cultural context of an urban Indian slum. Observations were gathered as part of a larger study of reproductive tract infections in women in Delphi, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative phase con sisted of 52 in-depth interviews, three focus groups discussions and five k ey informant interviews. In the quantitative phase inferences were drawn fr om 380 respondents Mean age at menarche was 13.5 Onset of menarche is assoc iated with physical maturity and the ability to marry and reproduce. Howeve r, a culture of silence surrounds menarche, an event which took the women i nterviewed almost by surprise. Most were previously unaware that it would h appen and the information they were given was sparse. Menstruation is assoc iated with taboos and restrictions on work, sex, food and bathing, but the taboos observed by most of the women were avoidance of sex and not particip ating in religious practices; the taboo on not going into the kitchen, whic h herd been observed in rural joint households, was not being observed afte r migration from rural areas due to lack of social support mechanisms. Ther e is a clear need to provide information to young women on these subjects i n ways that are acceptable to their parents schools and the larger communit y and that allow them to raise their own concerns. Education on these subje cts should be envisaged as a long-term, continuous process, beginning well before menarche and continuing long after it.