How COVID-19 lockdown has impacted the sanitary pads distribution among adolescent girls and women in India

Babbar, Karan, Rustagi, Niharika and Dev, Pritha (2022) How COVID-19 lockdown has impacted the sanitary pads distribution among adolescent girls and women in India. Journal of Social Issues. ISSN 1540-4560 (In Press)

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Abstract

This paper empirically explores the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying lockdown on adolescent girls’ and women’s access to sanitary pads in India. We have used the National Health Mission’s Health Manage ment Information System (NHM-HMIS) data for the study, which provides data on pads’ distribution on a district level. The empirical strategy used in the study exploits the variation of districts into red, orange, and green zones as announced by the Indian Government. To understand how lockdown severity impacts access to sanitary pads, we used a difference-in-difference (DID) empirical strategy to study sanitary pads’ access in red and orange zones compared to green zones. We find clear evidence of the impact of lockdown intensity on the provision of sanitary pads, with districts with the strictest lockdown restrictions suffering the most. Our study highlights how sanitary pads distri bution was overlooked during the pandemic, leaving girls and women vulnerable to managing their menstrual needs. Thus, there is a requirement for strong policy to focus on the need to keep sanitary pads as part of the essential goods to ensure the needs of the girls and women are met even in the midst of a pandemic, central to an inclusive response

Item Type: Article
Keywords: COVID-19 | Lockdown | Sanitary pads |Female | Mensturation
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Education Research
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Social Sciences (General)
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Health (Social sciences)
JGU School/Centre: Jindal Global Business School
Depositing User: Amees Mohammad
Date Deposited: 29 Jul 2022 06:18
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2022 06:18
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12533
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/3925

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