KATHMANDU, Feb 24: The Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens is organizing an international conference in Kathmandu from May 26 to 28 with the aim of ending chhaupadi practice, under which women are banished to sheds (chau) during their monthly period.

Hindson Bethan (2009) mentions that menstruation taboos universally prevailed up to the mid-twentieth century in the world although anthropologists and historians did not make these taboos the subject of research until recently. Likewise, M Guterman and others (2007) provide that major religions of the world, without exception, have placed restrictions on menstruating women. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism have made statements about menstruation and its negative effect on women, leading to prohibitions about physical intimacy, cooking, attending places of worship, and sometimes requiring women to live separately from men.

Chhau is a tradition associated with the menstrual taboo in the western part of Nepal. This tradition prohibits Hindu women and girls from participating in normal family activities during menstruation as they are considered impure. Women are required to live in a cattle-shed or hut during menstruation.

KATHMANDU, April 30: ‘Chhhau Macbeth’, based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, was performed at Theater Mall in Kathmandu from Friday to Saturday. The play was presented by Kantipur Film Academy and Rabindra Nagar Natyaaudh.