Actors Rupali Ganguly and Gaurav Khanna, who play lead roles in Star Plus’ television show ‘Anupamma’, are taking on Whisper’s mantle to educate mothers on the biology of periods.
Both actors took to their social media handles to talk about how important it was to include the ‘The Missing Chapter’ in the curriculum of schools so that adolescent girls don’t miss a single day of studies during their periods because of age-old taboos and misinformation.
Feminine-care brand Whisper, from the house of Procter and Gamble recently launched the fourth edition of its #KeepGirlsInSchool campaign - with a film titled ‘The Missing Chapter’.
Conceptualised by Leo Burnett, through the film, Whisper aims to empower mothers with the right knowledge on period care, so that they in turn, can educate their daughters on menstrual hygiene and on using sanitary pads during their monthly cycles.
Ganguly and Khanna both highlighted that in most parts of India, mothers themselves are unaware about the biological workings of their body during menstruation leaving 71% of the girls in India unaware about periods when they first get them. As a result, young girls have limited knowledge on how to manage their periods and prefer to stay home during period days every month.
‘The Missing Chapter’ aims to break this cycle of ignorance carried on through generations of mothers who were themselves never educated about this natural process.
“I strongly believe that menstrual education is a huge gap in our society and has to be addressed as it is so critical for the growth and development of our girls from an early age. Unfortunately, many young girls don't know about this natural process and don’t have access to sanitary pads. This leads to misconceptions and taboos around periods. Whisper’s KGIS campaign is doing an incredible job of educating young girls and women about menstrual health and hygiene and I’m very happy to support this cause,” said Ganguly, known for her role in television show ‘Anupamaa’.
“Not only young girls, we, as a society, need to be comfortable talking about periods and making an effort to understand what women and young girls go through every month. It is the most natural process in the world, and should be common knowledge to all. Whisper’s focus and dedication to creating awareness about periods and making sanitary products available to one and all is commendable and I am honoured to be associated with the brand,” said Gaurav Khanna who has acted ‘Anupamaa’ show.
“We are thrilled to have actors like Rupali and Gaurav take forward our message to a larger audience and thank them for their support of Whisper’s KGIS campaign. When included in the curriculum of schools across India, ‘The Missing Chapter’ has the power to completely change the way adolescent girls and unaware mothers perceive periods both in rural and urban India. It will change the entire dynamics of our society. Less girls will drop out of school because of their periods and more dreams will be realised, more aspirations will be fulfilled and that is the ultimate goal we are working towards with our KGIS campaign,” said Girish Kalyanaraman, Brand Director, Feminine Care, Procter and Gamble India.
Whisper launched its #KeepGirlsInSchool Campaign in the year 2020 to shed light on ‘Missing Girls’ from Indian schools every month. They continued with the campaign in 2021 highlighting, ‘Missing Future’ of girls who dropped out of schools during their periods.
In 2022, the brand brought to notice the ‘The Missing Chapter’ on periods in the school syllabi highlighting an important question – how long a Missing Chapter can be kept away from the Indian education system.