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SC decision on menstrual leave is feminist. Rani of Jhansi didn’t use period as an excuse

Women officers in the forces routinely manage the physiological realities of menstruation. Making menstrual leave mandatory would be two steps backwards for them.

Menstruation was a taboo subject when I was growing up. And as I got older, I realised that the topic of menstruation was off the table even among girlfriends. The secrecy and shame that surrounded this monthly event were a fact of life. Post-2014, the BJP did bring about some social change when the PM Modi-led government launched “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao”, and conversations around toilets, menstrual hygiene, sanitation, sanitary pads, etc were brought to the mainstream.

Therefore, in the run-up to International Women’s Day 2026, I was pleasantly surprised to see conversations and discussions in the highest court of the land around this topic. I was also excited to speak on women’s reproductive health in India at a UN-led event in India’s capital, where the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Stefan Preisner, presided over a discussion on the strides made around menstrual hygiene in India.

“A period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education”—these words, attributed to Melissa Berton, American activist and founder of The Pad Project, were used by Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan to preface their 30 January judgment on menstruation facilities for school-going children.  Mensuration is a fact of life which is responsible for continuing life itself, so there is no shame needed.

It was heartening to note that the Supreme Court held that menstrual health is an aspect of the right to life and the right to free and compulsory education under Article 21 and 21A, respectively.

There were three key points to the ruling of Justices Pardiwala and Mahadevan. 1) Under Article 21, Menstrual health and hygiene are integral to the Right to Life and Dignity. 2) As per Article 21A, the paucity of menstrual health facilities acts as a barrier to girls’ education. 3) The State is obligated to remove all biological and social obstacles to the girl child accessing education.

This ruling by the SC will have far-reaching implications for the menstrual health landscape in India. Primarily, the taboo around the ‘M’ word is gradually eroding. At the women’s health event at the UN HQ in Delhi, it was gratifying to hear the observation of foreign visitors that there are menstrual pad vending machines in airports and railway stations, something they haven’t really observed in other countries. This indicates that menstrual hygiene........

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