Independent Women (Part II)

In a strange way I've been looking forward to writing this one ever since I got out to Nepal. Although I might have called it Independent Women, this post is completely opposite to part 1 as I'll be covering a topic that has such a negative effect on women's lives. The topic is something so taboo that they don't speak about it in some parts of the country. It's something children don't get educated about. It's the reason a lot of girls don't go to school. It's the reason a number of women are raped. 


I'm talking periods, people. 

(Guys: this one's going to be all about menstruation, so if you're feeling squeamish about that, get a grip of yourselves and keep reading. This is interesting stuff). 

**Disclaimer: the following doesn't apply to every inch and corner of Nepal, but a lot of it is common and does affect a huge number of women.** 

Let's get to it. In Nepal they have what are known as chhaupadi traditions. These are a strict set of rules to follow when women are menstruating. Practiced in the far western areas of Nepal, the chhaupadi tradition prevents women from normal family activities because they are 'impure'. On her very first period, a girl must spend 10-11 days in a shed, and 4-7 days from then on. After childbirth, the mother must also spend 11 days in confinement. Often these sheds can be far from the home and more than one woman will have to stay there. The women have no protection and often they are raped (even though they're impure, go figure). 

During menstruation women are forbidden to touch men or to enter the courtyard of their own homes. They are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and  must survive on a diet of dry foods, salt, and rice. They cannot use warm blankets, and are allowed only a small rug made of burlap. They are also restricted from going to school or performing their daily functions like taking a bath, forced to stay in the conditions of the shed. This is all because they are considered to be impure. 

The chhaupadi system comes from the superstition of impurity during the menstruation period. In this superstitious logic, if a menstruating woman touches a tree it will never again bear fruit; if she consumes milk the cow will not give any more milk; if she reads a book about Saraswati, the goddess of education, she will become angry; if she touches a man, he will be ill. (Wiki)

Despite being outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2005, the practice still continues. In the far west of Nepal, 50% of women said they had been forced to live in sheds. In the mid west it was 52% of women. 

In addition to this, it seems that education about menstrual and other sexual and reproductive health is completely missing from the curriculum. Some of the Nepali volunteers have told me that although it is there in the textbook, it doesn't spoken about in school. At home there will be no help either, there is no chance of your parents sitting down to talk about these 'impure' topics. This isn't the only issue when it comes to education. Due to poor sanitation facilities, and often a complete lack of girls toilets, girls are often forced to miss school when they are menstruating, having an extremely detrimental effect on their education. 

Learning about the above has made me realise the importance of the programme we are currently working on. Based in schools, the volunteers have been/will be delivering classes about these essential topics. They have already been out teaching about puberty and menstrual health to women's groups and they will be extending this to schools too. Some of the volunteers have also organised sanitary pad making workshops, a great session that teaches women who may not have access to sanitary items how to make their own discreet pads. 
This is the part where I would like to add lots of statistics about how things are changing, but they've been hard to come by. Because Chhaudapi is such an established tradition it is hard to break. Women accept the practice because it's what their mothers and grandmothers have done, so they are expected to do it too. There are some efforts being made to root this problem out. Twice a week, the state-owned Radio Nepal broadcasts programmes to raise awareness about the chhaupadi system and the reproductive health rights of women. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and Mainstreaming Gender Equity Programme (MGEP) screened a 40-minute documentary film in March this year called 'Chhaupadi', to highlight the problem.

The attitudes to menstruation have directly affected some of my volunteers. Of course there have been no volunteers sleeping out in sheds, but they have had to follow some of the 'milder' rules. The host homes understand that the UK volunteers have different practices and respect that, but at the same time we must respect the rules of the homes we are living in. I have also found that Nepali's use menstruation as reasoning for most health problems. Whenever a volunteer has been sick, the doctor has always asked if they are menstruating. Most Nepali women seem to 'take rest' when they are menstruating, and they seem shocked at our desire to continue living life as normal. I can't image what an employer in the UK would say if you said you needed 4 days off every month from work because of menstruation. Maybe I'll test that out when I get back...

Lizzie x

Want to see some images of chaupadi in practice? Head over to this gallery on The Guardian. 

This is also a good link to a first hand account of chaupadi in Nepal.