Cultural and Environmental Factors that Affect Menstruation for Women in Urban India

Women in developing countries suffer greatly when they are menstruating. With a lack of education provided and a lack of resources, they are unable to get the care they truly need. This makes them more vulnerable to developing easily preventable diseases. In areas of India, it is extremely difficult to gain access to safe water that ensures a woman’s hygiene is adequate. Through the Culture, Health, and Environmental Lab (CHElab) in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, researchers were able to conduct face-to-face interviews in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. The women who took part in the study described their experience regarding water insecurity and limited resources as “humiliating and deeply distressing” (CHEl, 2021). Cultural and environmental factors are key in analyzing the true difficulties the women are experiencing with inadequate water and menstruation products. The cultural factors that have been highlighted are age, religion, and the family which they live with. Specifically relating to water insecurity, the focus is on where they get the water from and what difficulties they face. By analyzing the data provided for the women in India, it is imperative to understand their difficulties.