Adeli is a word used in Gujarat (a state in India) for women who are menstruating. Adeli means touched, unclean, possessed or stained. These women referred to as ‘Adeli’ are banned from entering commercial and household kitchens. Most women in rural Gujarat work in commercial kitchens or as house staff because of lack of education and skills.

Many of these women are daily wage workers in commercial kitchens like restaurants, schools, temples and food factories. They are forced to take leave during their periods resulting in up to 21% loss in monthly income.

Unipads, a reusable sanitary pad brand wanted to change this and erase the taboo associated with women cooking and working while menstruating. While advocating for these daily wage earners the brand wanted to change this practice followed by the food industry.

Unipads created the most taboo restaurant that debunked an age-old prejudice and launched a movement called Adeli. Menstruating women were invited to cook for the very first time. A special menu of curated taboo dishes were cooked and served by menstruating women recruited through newspaper ads and community radio. Politicians, restaurant owners, change-makers, and community leaders dined and became a part of this movement. It was covered by the news media on Women’s Day to raise awareness around this issue. 5 different NGOs also helped add to the conversation. This forced people to ask their favourite restaurants if they allowed menstruating women to cook.

300+ restaurants appealed to The National Restaurant Association of India forcing them to create guidelines to protect the rights of menstruating women to enter the kitchen and cook. A legal support helpline was also created for women to report any discrimination.

The word Adeli is used as a slur to describe menstruating women. And the brand had to work to remove the stigma and the economic impact of it. The initiative was designed to reach the community at large so the change in culture could be accepted, and the taboo be eradicated. Instead of using traditional media we used community radio reaching 700k-900k people in the region to start the conversation surrounding this taboo.

We wanted to spread the message that women should be allowed to cook in commercial kitchens while menstruating and not be forced to take leaves. But since it was a taboo, we needed voices that would be heard and covered by news media so we invited politicians, business owners, community leaders and influencers to dine and capture the message.

Various restaurant boards were approached across the country to spread it via their internal magazines and other circulars.

On Women’s Day, the initiative was launched in association with Nini’s Kitchen – a leading restaurant chain in the region. Menstruating women cooked for the very first time. Taboo dishes were served to politicians, restaurant owners and influencers who dined and became a part of this movement.

BBC, VTV, Mirror and other media helped spread the word. With the initiative spreading, restaurant association helped involve its 5000+ members.

Started with one restaurant on Women’s Day, till date (8th April) 1400+ businesses have joined this initiative to bring a change to the lives of these daily wage earners.

The Ministry of labour, skill and employment was involved to ask stakeholders in the food-industry to stop this practice. The speaker of the legislative also encouraged this initiative as an important step in empowering women financially.

1400+ businesses pledged to stop this discrimination.

5000+ National Restaurant Association of India members are now taking steps to protect the right of menstruating women in kitchens.

Federation of Hotel, Hotel Association (Western India), National Restaurant Association of India, Heritage Hotel Association, International Hotel & Restaurant Association, and Ahmedabad Hotel Restaurant Association have joined the conversation.

The Ministry of labour, skill and employment asked stakeholders in the food-industry to stop this practice. The speaker of the legislative assembly encouraged this initiative to empower women economically.

Akshay Patra, an organization serving 5 million+ meals daily has joined the initiative.

On Women’s Day alone the initiative reached millions of people – impressions include: BBC(420k) VTV(120K) 108.7 Nazariya(400k). Leading newspapers and portals like Mirror, Divya Bhaskar, NavGujaratSamay, Prabhat, Zee5, APN, Indian BusinessLine, EDTimes, ConnectGujarat, Sugarmint, Navjeevan Express.