“Menstrual Man” Muruganantham Marks Women’s Day With Speech

A 49-year old man from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, was invited to give a talk on menstrual hygiene to more than 3,000 women in Mumbai, to mark International Women’s Day. Recognizing the need for developing cheap sanitary pads for women, Arunachalam Muruganantham developed a series of devices that allowed poor women to develop their own menstrual pads. Known as the “Menstrual Man”, Muruganantham revealed he realized the need for developing cheap sanitary pads after he found that his wife either had to use a soiled rag, which he said he would not have used to clean his scooter, or spend more money than they could have afforded on purchasing sanitary pads.

Muruganantham was the subject of a documentary in 2013 in which he revealed that his wife refused to test the pads and with no volunteers available, he was forced to test them himself by filling up a soccer ball bladder with animal blood and feeding the tube into his underwear to simulate a period.

The 49-year old said that each device will cost around Rs 1,15,000 to set up and will earn a monthly profit of Rs 10,000. Stating that he has no intention of selling his patent to a big company in order to make more money, Muruganantham said, “I decided to give it to women as poor as my mother.”

Source-Medindia