New laws have not stopped women and girls being exiled during their periods in Nepal
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Melanie Channon, University of Bath; Fran Amery, University of Bath, and Jennifer Thomson, University of Bath
Periods are still treated as a taboo subject in many parts of the world. Despite being a completely normal biological function, they are often seen as shameful, embarrassing and impure.
As a result, a wide variety of customs have developed around menstruation. In Nepal, the breadth and depth of menstrual taboos is particularly severe.
A woman or girl having their period might not be able to sleep in her own bed, engage in religious activities, eat or drink normal food, enter the kitchen, touch (or even look at) other people (especially men), use the family toilet, or even enter the family home.
In the west of the country, a practice known as “chhaupadi” prevails, which means that during menstruation you must sleep outside the family home, traditionally in a purpose built menstrual hut, known as a “chhau goth”. Or it might mean sleeping in a communal space above animal she...
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