Even in the 21st century, stigmas know no borders and unfortunately, in several countries’ women must face very cruel realities since the world is full of myths that stigmatize menstruation. In many cultures in Asia, being a woman affects the way of life according to the civilization or ethnic group to which she belongs. One of the most controversial and ancient “traditions” that persists in the modern way of life is chhaupadi. The chhaupadi is a traditional practice that considers women impure during menstruation days and prohibits them from contacting other members of the community or their family to ward off the “bad luck” that intrinsic supposes at that time of the month. As a result, women are prohibited from grooming, attending school, eating with their family or touching food, and in some cases, they are forced into isolation in sheds.

A research done by the United Nations I 2011 demonstrated that in some areas of Nepal, women are expelled from their homes during menstruation because it is considered as an impure period of bad omen in which women are taken and isolated into small weak structures that are like ‘menstrual cabins’. These are small individual constructions with small entrances, some of them do not even have doors or windows. The sheds are characterized by poor sanitary and ventilation conditions, where women are forbidden to have contact with other people, animals, plants and dairy products. Also, in India, it is common for women to not be able to enter the kitchen or eat with the family during their menstruation due to the belief that a woman in her period “can sour the food”. Undoubtedly, this ancient practice is one of the most acute examples of how stigmatization of menstruation affects the daily lives of women. It is absurd that the communities that practice chhaupadi believe that they will suffer misfortune if they do not take women and girls away when they are menstruating.

Chhaupadi was declared illegal in Nepal in 2005. Nevertheless, there have been no sanctions for those who continue to practice it. Chhaupadi was already banned by the Supreme Court several years ago, but it is still very present in some areas of western Nepal, where women and girls are expelled from their homes every month. Still today, the tradition of chhaupadi is perpetuated by families despite being persecuted by law. Since the Supreme Court ban was not enough, the Nepalese organizations dedicated to the defense of women’s rights demanded a new law to toughen penalties and improve prevention systems. Thus, in August 2017, the Nepalese Parliament criminalized the practice condemning anyone who forced a woman to exclude herself during menstruation or promoted it, to three months in jail and a fine of 23.5 euros.

A couple of years ago an NGO stated that the village of Pandulsen was finally free from the practice of chhaupadi. However, the tradition remains very present in remote rural areas of Nepal, where superstition prevails in education.  cruel treatment

Organizations devoted to the defense of women’s rights have denounced that chhaupadi exposes women to multiple cases of abuse like rapes and cruel treatment. Chhaupadi can cause deaths by hypothermia in the mountainous areas or to the drowning by the fires lit to fight the cold. Besides, NGOs have warned that chhaupadi can lead to starvation because according to this superstition women can barely eat and drink during menstruation, and even it can cause animal attacks in the middle of the field, where women need to wander for hours searching for water to clean themselves as they can’t access the kitchen or family toilets. “Since they are banned on using public toilets, they are forced to use the murky water of the streams”, said Rukmani Shahi, President of the Nepal Women’s Rights Forum.

It is heartbreaking finding out that chhaupadi has caused several deaths. For instance, at the end of 2016, in the village of Gajra, a 15-year-old girl who lit a fire next to her isolation hut, fell asleep and inhaled all the smoke from the fire that gave her heat on a cold night. Also, in 2017 Shahi, a 19-year-old girl from Dailekh died from a snake bite while she was isolated in a shed. Shahi’s family members initially tried to treat her using home remedies, before taking her to a local health center, which did not have the necessary antifungal medications. The monsoon rains had flooded the mountain roads of the region, making the three-hour trip to the nearest hospital almost impossible. After seven hours of fighting the poison, Shahi died. Also, another girl from Achham lost her life suffocated by the poor ventilation of the place where she was held. Then, this past January, a mother, and her two children were found dead in chorizo in the western district of Bajura, in the border region that connects Nepal with India and China. According to the investigations, Amba Bohora, a 33-year-old, and his two sons Suresh and Ramit (12 and 9 respectively) were poisoned by inhaling the toxic smoke generated by the fire they lit to warm up inside the windowless shelter where they were. Bohora, who was on the fourth day of her menstruation, had been forced to sleep outside the house following the Chhaupadi tradition. The bodies of the three family members were discovered by their mother-in-law, with whom they lived since the husband and father of the victims emigrated in search of work to the Indian city of Pithoragarh, on the other side of the Nepalese border, three months ago.

Chhaupadi must end urgently. The Government of Nepal said that they are committed to breaking the silence that surrounds menstruation and to eradicating the practice through collaboration with civil society organizations and NGOs to develop national public policies that address menstrual hygiene. Since the legal persecution of this tradition began, organizations and activists have been demanding that the law must be complied. Hopefully, their efforts are going to have results.