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AbstractMenstruation is considered an off-limits subject in India where menstruating woman continue to face silence, discrimination and isolation. A mesh of patriarchal cultural practices surrounding the subject of menstruation places restrictions on girls and women who are menstruating. This paper explores the menstrual experiences and challenges experienced by teachers from a village located in a Kishangarh block in rural Rajasthan. Informed by qualitative research, the study reveals the irony in thrust to distribute disposable menstrual pads to adolescent girls in school while ignoring the needs of teachers. The study calls for the inclusion of teachers as key stakeholders in the design of school based menstrual hygiene management and awareness initiatives and programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Girls' education has for many decades been central to the global development agenda, due to its positive impact on girls' health and wellbeing. In this paper, the authors revisit boys' attitudes, behaviours and norms related to girls' education, following the Samata intervention to prevent girls' school dropouts in Northern-Karnataka, South India. Data were collected from 20 boys in intervention villages before and after the intervention, and analysis was undertaken using a thematic-framework approach. Findings suggest that while boys did hold some attitudes and beliefs that supported girls' education and delayed-marriage, these remained within the framework of gender-inequitable norms concerning girls' marriageability, respectability/family-honour. Participants criticised peers who sought to jeopardise girls' respectability by teasing and community gossip about girls-boys' communication in public. Boys who rejected prevailing norms of masculinity were subjected to gossip, ridicule and violence by the community. Boys' attitudes and beliefs supported girls' education but were conditional on the maintenance of gendered hierarchies at household and interpersonal levels. Social norms concerning girls' honour, respectability and the role of boys as protectors/aggressors appeared to influence boys' response to girls' school dropouts. Future interventions aiming to address girls' education and marriage must invest time and resources to ensure that intervention components targeting boys are relevant, appropriate and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]