Young women in cities are used to staying away from their kitchens at home during their menstruation. But their suffering is nothing compared to what their counterparts in Western Nepal face. Menstruating women there are supposed to live in a different house altogether, often with animals. They live in complete seclusion during these times, which means that they are often malnourished and frequently fall prey to harsh weather. Yet another unforeseen negative impact of this custom has come to light: girls in Dewaldanda Higher Secondary School in Bajura skip school during their menstruation. The school premise is home to some temples, and since menstruation taboos include religion, local girls are fearful of evoking the gods’ wrath by attending school during those days. Better known is the fact that thousands of menstruating girls in remote Nepal miss school because they have no place to clean themselves up at school. [break]
Collective consciousness is a strong force. Once an entire society believes in something, it is hard to convince an individual of the truth, no matter how illogical the belief is. Local girls in Bajura believe that if they defy the gods and touch them during their menstruation, they will suffer. One girl believes that she suffered severe stomach ache and lost her appetite when she attended school during her menstruation. She, like many others, also believed that her symptoms stopped once she stopped defying the deities and pacified them. It is not hard to extrapolate from her statements, and understand why the society easily blames menstruating women for the failure of crops, the sickness of people, or any other kind of unpleasant events and tragedies. Lesser known, but related, is the taboo which applies to women who have recently given birth: she too is deemed unclean and malignant, and kept secluded for more than three weeks after the birth of a baby.
Ostracizing women in the times when they need nutrition and care the most can harm them permanently. Besides affecting their physical health, it also scars them emotionally, making them bitter about themselves and their place in society. And in the case of girls in Bajura, they end up missing as much as five days a month of school, which amounts to almost a fourth of their education. However, it is possible to overcome the collective consciousness, as we have seen in the gradual reduction of the ritual for girls in urban areas. As our society changes, there will be more situations where girls will miss out on opportunities—education, employment, travel, etc—if they are forced to adhere to the taboos. It will no longer be possible (or desirable) for families and communities to enforce these taboos. With increasing knowledge about menstruation, our collective consciousness will change too, and fewer people will be willing to believe in its destructive powers. But social changes take time. For that to happen sooner than later, each of us must make the effort to spread awareness of these issues and ensure that girls do not suffer more than they have to from a normal, biological function.
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