Wiltshire-based charity Women and Girls is delighted to announce a special screening of the recent Bollywood hit ‘Pad Man’ to be held at Reel Cinema, Chippenham, on International Women’s Day. The screening will generate funds to support the work of Women and Girls in combatting period poverty in India and is supported by Reel Cinemas and Natural Numbers Ltd.
Women and Girls was founded in 2017 to help address some of the issues around period poverty in India, where 88% of women say they cannot afford to buy sanitary protection and resort to using homemade alternatives which are often dangerously unhygienic. 23% of girls in India drop out of school when they start having periods, and it is estimated that 27% of girls are married before the age of 18 – the highest number of child brides in the world. By providing not only sanitary protection but also education around menstruation and sexual health, it is possible to have a positive impact on the distressing reality faced by too many young women and girls in India.
Co-founder of Women and Girls, Kathryn Crosweller, said, “Pad Man is an incredible film because it throws a spotlight on a topic that hasn’t been spoken about in private, never mind in public, for far too long. It shows the reality of period poverty for women in India and by showing the film in Chippenham for International Women’s Day we hope to raise awareness of the challenges faced during the most natural process a woman can go through.”
Pad Man is based on the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham who created a disposable sanitary pad that is affordable to far more people than the options that were previously available.
Kathryn Crosweller said, “Women and Girls does not distribute disposable sanitary protection, but reusable, hygienic options that suit the needs of the women and girls we work with. While the film’s solution is different to ours, the message is the same: it doesn’t take much to give a woman or girl comfort, dignity and freedom during her period.”
Tickets to the screening cost £15 and will include a glass of wine and canapes on arrival at 7pm. The film will begin after a brief insight into the work Women and Girls is doing to combat period poverty in India at 8pm. At least £10 from each ticket will provide hygienic and reusable sanitary protection to women and girls in India, meaning each ticket holder will be helping two women or girls for at least a year of their life.
For tickets please visit click here and for information about Women and Girls please visit www.womenandgirls.org.uk. For further information please contact [email protected].
Women and Girls is a registered charity in the UK, no. 1173653.