Aditi-Gupta : Author & co-founder of Menstrupedia

• 422
• 0

Aditi Gupta is one of the Indian women entrepreneurs who is an author and the co-founder of the comic Menstrupedia. Tired of the myths and misinformation that surrounded Menstruation she took it upon herself to make a change. She and her husband co-founded the comic in 2012. In 2014 she was listed on the Forbes India 30 under 30 list for her work towards breaking the taboo. Today, Menstrupedia has been used in more than 6,000 schools and has benefited more than 10,00,000 girls in over 20 languages.

 

Aditi Gupta runs Menstrupedia, the world’s most innovative company when it comes to teaching and learning about periods. She has educated more than 50,000 girls about periods, trained 10,000 educators, and impacted the lives of 13 million girls worldwide.

Her Menstrupedia Comic uses storytelling and sequential art for educating young girls about periods in an informative and fun way. Over 10,000 schools in India use these comic books as a part of their curriculum. The Menstrupedia Comic is available in 20 languages and is used in 23 countries around the world. Her teaching techniques are culturally sensitive and widely accepted by over 1.5 lakh Indian Parents!

Menstrupedia is a complete guide about periods that is taught in more than 30 schools across India. They also have several free resources available to help break the taboo.

Menstrupedia Comic

The essential puberty guide for every girl

Full of practical guidance based on real-life stories

Culturally sensitive

Well researched and medically accurate content

Available in 20 different languages

Aditi Gupta said

I grew up in a place called Garhwa in Jharkhand. On my paternal side, girls were married once they finished their 10th grade. My family started receiving marriage proposals as soon as I turned 13. My mother is a post-graduate from Kolkata University and at the time, the only woman on the paternal side to hold such a high degree. "You would be married off if you don't study," this false threat worked like a charm for an otherwise distracted daughter. My father valued education over everything else, he says it is the only way to rise economically and socially.

Garhwa lacked the two most basic things that my parents considered essential, good schools and good medical facilities. For my 10th board exams, I had to take private tuition to finish the syllabus.

My parents decided to sell their big house, father gave up his thriving career and we moved to Ranchi. They took this huge risk only to provide me and my two brothers with the best education facility that they could.

At 23, I was an engineering graduate, went to the National Institute of Design for post-graduation in Design, met Tuhin Paul got a job in an e-learning company, got married when I was 27, and by 28, Tuhin and I had established Menstrupedia. By 29, I was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30. Menstrupedia was challenging the period taboo, periods began to be seen in a positive light and it became cool to talk about periods in the years to follow. My name would come up every time people talked about successful women entrepreneurs in India. At 33, we had our first child, and same the year I was named as the Most Influential Women in Business by Business World Magazine.

What were the odds!! I could have been married by 17, had kids by 18. EDUCATION created all the differences. Not every girl has the same privilege and is lucky enough to have parents like mine. Educating a girl is the most important thing a society can do.

In India, 23 million girls drop out of school when they start getting periods. The reasons are many, lack of proper sanitation facilities, lack of awareness, and widespread myths.

A girl getting her periods indicates sexual maturity and parents restrict girls from having any contact with males. 9th standard girls in a school at Mehsana believed that boys would rape them if they came to know these girls were on periods. Imagine the fear of coming to school during periods!.2,30,000,00 girls, this number bothers me to the core and I will do every bit to bring it down to zero. If you want to collaborate please write to me at aditi@menstrupedia.com

IAS Officer  Lakshmi Bhavya said Menstrupedia’s book is a very good way of reaching girls in an entertaining and educating way as well. They are in the form of comics and also available in regional languages as well which makes their reach wider