A vicious cycle
Hundreds of thousands of Nepal women are driven into seclusion each month because of the age-old superstitious practice of Chhaupadi. Alone in their sheds, these women face disease, rape and even death.
>by Sanjaya Dhakal
August 26, 2003
Hundreds of thousands of women in Nepal are driven into seclusion during their menstrual cycle, forced by their superstitious families to live in dirty, isolated sheds where they risk contracting diseases and face other dangers such as rape.
Rampant in the mid-western and far-western regions of the country, the practice of isolation known as Chhaupadi cuts across caste divides. In some places, such sheds called Suundh are built over a mile away from the village.
In June, 25-year-old Matadevi Khadka from the far-western district of Doti — some 500 miles west of the capital Kathmandu — died after being bitten by a poisonous snake as she slept in a secluded shed during menstruation.
Khadka's case is not an exception. Thousands of women in western Nepal suffer health problems and risk dying an unnatural death during their menstrual cycle because of this inhuman practice.
Barely six feet wide and four feet high, the Suundh is a narrow shed built of wood. While affluent families build proper sheds, the poorer ones use extremely dilapidated and unhygienic outhouses.
Women are considered impure during menstruation and are barred from participating in normal family activities. They are not allowed to touch men and are forbidden to enter even the courtyard of their homes.
Worse, they are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter and other nutritious food, and have to survive on dry foods and rice. They cannot use warm blankets and are allowed only a small rug.
According to superstition, if a menstruating woman, particularly an unmarried one, touches a man, he will fall ill. Likewise, if they touch trees, they will not bear fruit, and if they are given milk, the cow will stop producing it.
These women must also stay away from temples and other holy places. But this doesn't mean they are excused from work. In fact, they are compelled to engage in hard labour such as working in the fields, fetching firewood, washing clothes and so on.
Sabitri Mahara, 30, is originally from mid-western Nepal but now lives in the capital with her family. “In my village I had to practice Chhaupadi. I dreaded my periods every month. Apart from the lack of family care and a nutritious diet, there was always the danger from wild animals from the nearby forest,†she remembers.
Mahara adds that her family stopped forcing her to observe the tradition once they left the tiny village five years ago. “The people there are extremely illiterate and superstitious,†she says.
Former minister Bhakta Bahadur Balayar who hails from Doti district agrees. “The people in that part of the country are backward and blinded by superstition. We politicians have continuously tried to convince people to discard such superstitions,†he says.
The communities have refused to abandon such irrational traditions despite protests from rights activists and development workers. In villages, families that do not observe the tradition become pariahs.
The system of keeping menstruating women away from the house has led to more dangerous consequences.
Many women have been raped during their stay in isolated sheds. “There are people who stalk the Suundh if they come to know that girls are staying there and rape them,†says Basanta Basnet, an activist with the nongovernmental organization Forum for Women, Law and Development.
In August, 25-year-old Bhagwati Bohara was raped in her shed in far-western Nepal's Bajhang district. Her husband, in turn, drove her out of the house.
“My husband deserted me after a man raped me in the shed. What was my fault? How am I going to raise my three-year-old son now?†cries Bohara.
According to Basnet, there are hundreds of cases of rape that do not even come to light, since the women don't complain for fear of a social backlash.
In Bajhang district alone, scores of women have died after being forced to undergo this unhygienic routine. There are 20 districts in the region where this practice is observed.
So far, the local administration's response has been largely apathetic. “One reason may be that officials of the local bodies come from the same community and are not willing to cast off deep-rooted traditions quickly,†says Balayar.
The regular isolation and social exclusion has triggered severe depression and various forms of reproductive health problems among women.
“This system violates not only the right to health but also other general rights of women,†says Bipin Adhikari, a lawyer associated with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
“Neither the government nor others have done comprehensive research on Chhaupadi and its impact on women's health. But definitely, the cases of reproductive health problems are more rampant among women in western Nepal,†says a senior Health Ministry official.
The NHRC, in coordination with the government, has started a campaign to raise awareness against Chhaupadi. “Twice a week, the state-owned Radio Nepal broadcasts programs to raise awareness against Chhaupadi and the reproductive health rights of women,†says Adhikari.
“The program is mainly aimed at countering the age-old superstition that is so deeply entrenched in society,†he says.
Awareness programs still have their work cut out for them. Out of Nepal's population of 23 million, five million live in the far west and mid west region. Of that five million, 50 per cent are women.
Sanjaya Dhakal is a journalist with OneWorld South Asia, where this article originally appeared.
