A chaupadi shed in the far-western district of Nepal.
GOTHALAPANI, NEPAL -- Laxmi Devi Bhul, 12, sits on a dirty straw mat covering the floor of a rickety wooden hut more than 150 feet away from her family home. The grass roof is so low that she cannot stand up. The wooden shed was originally made for the family’s cattle, but Bhul’s father recently built a new shed for the cattle, adjacent to the home, because he did not think the old hut would withstand another rainy season.
So now, the old shed serves a new purpose.
With the cows relocated, the old shed became the perfect place for his daughter to be secluded during menstruation.
Bhul has been alone in the shed all day and the previous night. The makeshift hut is near a forest and she is scared.
“I am frightened to stay here alone,” Bhul says, “Mother does not allow me to enter house.”
Bhul lives in Gothalapani, in the Dasharathchand Municipality of Baitadi, a far-western district of Nepal, more than 500 miles from Kathmandu, the capital city.
Villagers here, as in many rural areas in Nepal, maintain that women are ritually impure during menstruation and practice the tradition of isolating women who are menstruating from contact with food and people, “to appease the gods.”
These tiny huts where women stay during their monthly periods are called chaupadi. While some of the sheds are clean and large enough to be considered livable, many of the poor residents here have chaupadis similar to Bhul’s.
Human rights advocates say they are frustrated by their inability to curb the practice of chaupadi, in part because so many women believe in its necessity. Many young women, however, are beginning to protest against chaupadi as health concerns mount. Despite a 2005 Supreme Court ruling outlawing the practice, government efforts have not made much impact in persuading local villagers to end the ritual.
The Rules of Chaupadi Impact Education
The tradition of chaupadi has been observed for centuries and includes a long list of rules women must follow during their stay in a shed. This practice has negatively impacted the performance of female students in school. Teachers in the far-western districts say girls lag behind in part because of how much school they are forced to miss.
Buhl is following a tradition that her mother, grandmother and great grandmother practiced. Rules include barring women from staying with family members, looking at men, sharing a water source and eating nutritious foods like milk, curd and ghee during the time of menstruation.
A seventh grader at local Shaileshwori Secondary School, Buhl missed school this week, because she is not allowed to leave her quarantine for any reason.
Sailendra Rimal, a teacher at Shaileshwori, confirms that female students do not attend classes during their periods because they are not allowed to sit with male students in the class.
Sita Karki of Sailek village, which is in the same district, says she was unable to attend her final examination for sixth grade because she had her period during the exam time. This year, the exam again fell during a time when she was confined to a small shed. As a result, she has spent two years in the same grade.
Due to chaupadi, some girls quit their studies temporarily while others give up permanently.
“The girls are lagging behind in academic performance. Even the educated families strictly follow the chaupadi tradition and do not send their daughters to school during their period,” Rimal says.
Various non-governmental organizations like Care Nepal, Lutheran World, Helvetas Nepal, United Nations Population Fund and various women’s groups have been working to end chaupadi. However, their efforts are proving futile against the long-held traditions encouraging the practice.
Generations of Women Disagree
Buhl is psychologically and physically weak after her stay in the shed. While there is a water tap located a short distance from her shed, she is not allowed to use it. Villagers do not allow women to use the public water tap during menstruation because they believe it will result in an “unexpected disaster.”
“The local women do not let me use the nearby tap. I feel too tired to reach the stream,” Bhul says from the doorway to her shed. “I wish nobody would be born as a daughter.”
Despite the hardships faced during isolation, most women in this region believe in the practice of chaupadi and strictly follow the rules for themselves and their daughters. Kaushila Chand, who works for the Forum for Upliftment of Women, FUW, a local NGO, says it is difficult to end or reform the tradition since many women do not take issue with the process. Chand says that whenever anything goes wrong in village life, both men and women are quick to blame chaupadi.
“The women view natural calamities, epidemics and bad luck [as] the result of chaupadi,” Chand says. “And if anything goes wrong men think that it is because the woman members did not strictly follow the chaupadi tradition in their families.”
Younger generations, however, have begun to speak out in favor of abolishing the tradition. Buhl says conservative villagers and older women do not listen to them and local men say breaching the tradition would be sinful.
“[Something] worse could take place and one may [even] die if the tradition [is] not followed strictly,” says Kopila Kumari Bhul, a neighbor of Buhl’s.
Concerns Grow as Women Observing Chaupadi Die
The hardships of chaupadi are not confided to solitude and thirst. Animals have attacked some women in this region during isolation while others have contracted illnesses.
Nepal’s largest daily newspaper, Kantipur, reported in June that a woman died of a snakebite that she received in her shed while practicing chaupadi.
It is not uncommon for women to fall ill during their isolation. In January, an 11-year-old girl from Achham, a mid-western district, died after a bout with diarrhea and dehydration that began while she was confined in her shed. Her family members and neighbors refused to take her to hospital, believing that they would become impure if touched the menstruating girl.
Postnatal mothers face similar health concerns. All new mothers in this region are forced to live in isolation for the first 11 days after giving birth. Bimala Dhami, 22, spent time in a cow shed with her newborn baby because her culture dictates that only the mother can touch the baby during the first 11 days.
Dhami says her postnatal chaupadi bordered on dangerous.
“The baby wept [the] whole night as my breast milk was not enough. The baby cannot have enough if the mother is not fed well,” she says.
Dhami adds that, “Nobody listens to me, even if I speak against the tradition.”
Despite Law, Practice Remains Common
Many government officials in Kathmandu say they have been trying to end the practice of chaupadi. In May 2005, Nepal’s Supreme Court declared the practice illegal and issued a directive to the government to formulate laws eliminating the practice of chaupadi. Many efforts, including gender sensitization programs, media campaigns to raise awareness and grass-root level community events focused on the eradication of this practice have made little impact in ending this deep-rooted tradition.
Kamal Dev Yogi, assistant chief district officer of Baitadi, says officials are trying to spread awareness about the dangers of chaupadi, “But our efforts are biting the dust as the tradition is so deep-rooted that if one tries to convince a villager [that it should end], they resort to physical attack.”
Shanta Shah, the wife of a police officer currently living in Baitadi, says that her landlady monitored whether or not she was following the tradition. Shah says she could not change the landlady’s mindset about the practice of chaupadi, despite her efforts.
“They will [say] we are wrong even if we try to [make] them aware. So I stayed inside my room without even going to the water tap during the period,” Shah says.
“The deeply-rooted chaupadi is very wrong social practice here. We are trying our best to convince the locals to end it,” says Yogi. “But it [will] take time to abolish it.”
Sunita Nepal, a program officer at the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare, says any inhumane activities practiced in the name of religion and tradition is unlawful.
“The government discourages any conservative and superstitious beliefs,” she says.
However, Nepal says it will take the active participation of local residents, schools, social organizations, political parties and other stakeholders to put an end to traditions such as chaupadi.
