Nepali women gain protection under the law

in a ruling ending the practice of keeping menstruating women in cow-sheds.

I understand the need for ritual purity, if indeed that is the supposed reason for doing so, but these practices do discriminate whenever a part of the population is separated from general society--especially if forced to stay in filth, eat unhealthy food, and suffer verbal abuse. It should certainly be the choice of the woman whether or not to adhere to traditional ways. I suspect better arrangements could be made if ritual purity is the concern.

Although, coming from a tradition where menstruation is celebrated as a time of power, not of shame, it's hard for me to understand why some cultures see it otherwise. But even in my own, women and men are not to be sexual together during that time, so it's not that different from, say, Judaism. So I get the ritual purity thing, I just look at it differently...that the woman is at a time of power that is dangerous to mess with. The best I can describe it is that things are different during menstruation, almost on a different wavelength, and it is a power that doesn't mix well with male energy, magic, power, whatever you call it. Or at least that is my experience.