MAM
Stayfree and Menstrupedia push for more open period conversations
Partnership has reached over 5 million children through schools and workshops.
MUMBAI: The conversation is flowing, and this time, it isn’t being whispered. Marking World Menstrual Hygiene Day, Stayfree and Menstrupedia brought together marketers, educators, social workers, industry leaders and students in Ahmedabad to challenge long-standing taboos around menstruation and push for a more inclusive conversation around menstrual health. Hosted at Narayana Business School (NBS), the event centred on this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day theme, Together for a #PeriodFriendlyWorld, spotlighting the need to normalise discussions around periods and improve access to menstrual hygiene products so girls can participate fully in education and everyday life.
The discussions explored how brands, educational institutions and communities can work together to move period conversations from silence to mainstream dialogue. A key focus was the role of men and boys as informed allies in breaking stigma and supporting menstrual awareness within households.
The event also highlighted Stayfree’s long-running efforts to make periods a regular topic of conversation at home. Over the years, the brand’s It’s Just a Period platform has expanded from encouraging fathers to discuss menstruation with their daughters to campaigns such as Talk to Your Sons and #BetaStayfreeLeAana, aimed at making period-related conversations and purchases feel routine rather than uncomfortable.
Adding a competitive twist to the day, students at NBS participated in a marketing challenge focused on a simple but culturally significant question: how can boys and men play a more active role in normalising period conversations in Indian homes? The top three teams were recognised for ideas designed to encourage behavioural change and greater awareness.
A panel discussion featuring Stayfree India Marketing Director Supriya Srinivasa, Narayana Business School’s Dr Vishal Tiwari and Menstrupedia Co-Founder Aditi Gupta examined the importance of inclusive menstrual health education and the role of collective action in driving social progress.
The occasion also marked five years of collaboration between Stayfree and Menstrupedia. Since partnering in 2020, the two organisations say they have trained more than 157,600 teachers, distributed over 1.669 million educational comic books, conducted workshops across 39,300 schools and reached more than 5 million girls and boys with menstrual health and hygiene education.
As conversations around health, gender and inclusion continue to evolve, initiatives like these suggest that one of India’s most enduring social taboos is steadily being replaced by something far more powerful: open dialogue.
