The effect of traditional menstrual practices on violence against women: A feminist-inspired structural violence perspective from the Far-Western Nepal.

This study investigates the association between Chhaupadi practice and violence against women through the lens of structural violence and patriarchy theories. Data from the 2019 Nepal Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey was used to compute propensity score matching, creating a balanced sample with equal numbers of women practising Chhaupadi and their counterparts. We then estimated the average marginal effect of the practice on domestic violence, accounting for matching weights and clustering standard errors at the matched pair stratum. The results indicated that women who practised Chhaupadi had a 14.3 % (p < 0.001) higher probability of experiencing intimate partner violence and a 12.2 % (p < 0.001) higher probability of violence from mothers-in-law, compared to women who did not. These findings are robust across various matching models and sensitivity analyses. Our results highlight how deeply embedded socio-cultural norms, such as menstrual seclusion, perpetuate systemic gendered inequities and vulnerabilities, exacerbating women's exposure to physical violence within intimate and familial relationships.