Scroll.in reporter Aarefa Johari's story on Indian sportswomen speaking up about menstruation won her a Certificate of Appreciation at the Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity on Friday.

The story, titled "As UK tennis player breaks silence on menstruation, Indian sportswomen speak out on taboo subject", has interviews with women athletes like Anju Bobby George, Sunita Godara, Joshana Chinappa, Santosh Yadav and Vandana Rao. In a country where menstrual blood is widely considered impure and inauspicious and barely 12% of women have access to sanitary napkins, the sportswomen reveal how much their period affects their performance.

This is the seventh edition of the awards that honour journalists for highlighting gender issues. Forty eight media professionals from the Southern and Western regions of the country were awarded at the ceremony in Chennai. The awardees included journalists from regional print and electronic media from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. The Laadli awards for the Northern and Eastern regions will be held in Delhi on March 17.