Eight in 10 girls in western Nepal forced to sleep outside during periods

https://news.yahoo.com/eight-10-girls-western-nepal-000100403.html

By Gopal Sharma, Thomson Reuters Foundation
,Reuters•December 9, 2019

Teenage girls are still being forced to sleep outside during their periods in parts of Nepal despite a string of deaths and a law banning the ancient custom, researchers said on Tuesday.

A new study published days after the latest victim suffocated to death found nearly eight out of 10 girls in Karnali, a province in western Nepal where the practice is prevalent, were banished from their homes while menstruating.

Because menstruating girls and women are viewed as impure, many have to sleep in huts, where they are at risk of being raped, bitten by snakes or dying from carbon dioxide poisoning from fires lit to keep warm.

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The centuries-old Hindu practice known as chhaupadi was outlawed in 2005, but penalties including a fine and jail time were only introduced last year after the deaths of a teenager and a mother and her sons led to a parliamentary investigation.

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But there are signs that attitudes are changing - last week, a village in western Nepal announced a reward of 5,000 Nepali rupees ($44) for each woman who refused to be confined to a hut, in a bid to end the practice.

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