Jayati Godhawat
JWB Blogger
VIDEO: These Women Talking About Living In A Cowshed When Bleeding Is Tragic
- JWB Post
- April 16, 2016
Gita, Safalta, and Lakshmi are amongst the million other women in Nepal who are forced to live in cowsheds after childbirth and during their monthly periods.
The practice is known as Chhaupadi, means untouchable-being, which restricts the females to stay in their homes, and they are forced to live in isolation in the cattle sheds or a make-shift room.
The practice is backed by the beliefs of the locals that if a woman doesn’t disobey the set norms during her menstruation or post-pregnancy, she will invite destruction and death to her family.
The cowsheds they live in are dark and the smell of dung. It inhabits insects, pests, hay, etc. In winters, it’s freezing, and in summers, it becomes too hot. Still, they have to live there because they are deemed “impure.”
In this gut-wrenching video, women explain the destitute condition they live in just because they feel it’s their God’s will. They also reveal that other men take advantage of their isolation and harass them.
And then there’s a shaman/healer (Read: Foolish Man) who explains why the practice of Chhaupadi is rightful and necessary. In fact, he audaciously claims that women are happier in the sheds than at home indicating on the genuineness of advancements men make on girls.
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Despite, Nepal’s Supreme Court in 2005 outlawed Chhaupadi, the practice is still widely observed in the western parts of the country.
It’s high time that the world understands that menstruation and pregnancy are nature’s best gift endowed upon women.
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