Reading the title “Period. End of Sentence.”, it seems obvious, right? That a period ends a sentence. However, when it comes to menstruation, what should be obvious and straightforward unfortunately isn’t. The Academy Award winning documentary reveals how in India, menstruation is a hushed subject barely spoken about, but finally brought to light by a group of inspiring and innovating women.

Outside of New Delhi, India, the documentary follows the journey a group of women take in order to make and sell pads that aren’t available for young girls in their community. Suddenly lying comfortably at home with a bottle of Advil at my side and a stash of pads and tampons in my bathroom becomes the largest luxury in the world. And if I run out, there’s a drugstore just around the corner where I can easily purchase more. But what I take for granted is a faraway dream for these women in India. Asking men and women in the village about menstruation, their responses are scattered with words like “dirty”, “illness” and “problem”. And that was from those who even knew what a period was. Confused looks from a group of boys and nervous laughter from a classroom of girls only emphasized the result of years and years of silence and discomfort surrounding menstruation. A woman’s period is never talked about, let alone in a positive way. The opening minutes of the documentary is filled with the questions of girls who know far too little about their own bodies. Women in India are even prevented from going to temple while they are on their period for the goddess they pray to somehow stops hearing the prayers of women on their period. Oh, the irony.

“It’s the biggest taboo in the country”, Arunachalam Muruganantham states clearly in front of the cameras. Having invented a low cost sanitary napkin machine, he envisions a day where India is 100% napkin using, as opposed to the less than 10% it is now. His machine and the village women who use it are united in the effort to convert India into a fully operating napkin using country, and he isn’t afraid to show it. Through their relationship and the success it follows, the cooperation between both men and women is revealed to beneficial. It might seem that pads are everyday materials to us in the United States, but in India pads are items women have either never heard of or have only caught glimpses of on their television screens. With a fantasy-like reverence, pads are unattainable for a number of women, using old pieces of cloth to soak up their periods instead and throwing them away in the night, shameful of their bodies natural functions. But this new brand of “Fly Pads”, its namesake inspired by the hope that women can rise and fly on their own, is slowly gaining recognition in and beyond this community. Working eight hour days, a group of women work together to gather materials and churn them into high quality pads. But the women don’t stop there. The chance of buying a pad for many is rare, as the act of going to stores where several men hang out can be intimidating and troublesome for many. As a solution, these women took charge of making their own pads and sell them directly to women across their village. Running their own business, these women earn the respect of their male counterparts as well as gain their own confidence. One girl is proud of her ability to earn her own money and buy her brother a suit, and another woman is finally respected by her husband.

Yes, there’s still a long way to go in getting every woman the menstrual care she needs and providing everyone with the proper education and awareness of menstruation. Stepping onto the Dolby Theater’s stage, director Rayka Zehtabchi exclaimed in tears, “I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar!” The conversation about destigmatizing what really shouldn’t be stigmatized in the first place is finally gaining recognition worldwide. Unlike a period which marks the end of a sentence, this documentary serves as the beginning for a worldwide movement and the onset for a larger conversation about women’s rights—one that should be held at home and anywhere across the globe.

You can watch “Period. End of Sentence” on Netflix.