This study examines how the practice of Chhaupadi, a traditional Nepalese custom that restricts menstruating women from participating in their daily activities, is being challenged and negotiated by women. A thorough analysis utilized interview data from 11 women in Dhanshingpur village in Nepal, revealing that Chhaupadi is not an unchanging cultural norm. Instead, it undergoes agentic actions—scrutiny, questioning, challenge, and negotiation by women. Those adhering to the practice actively negotiated its extent, not passively accepting societal norms. Factors like new information, external influences, community values, family relationships, and personal beliefs played a role. Changes in Chhaupadi rules indicate a shift toward flexibility. Women's agentic actions, leveraging circumstances to tailor the practice to their preferences, result in a more adaptable compliance among Nepalese women.
The phenomenon of women avoiding marriage and childbirth has recently caused heated discussion in China. However, limited attention has been given to the reasons for this phenomenon and to their identity construction from a linguistic perspective. To fill this gap, this study employs corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis with legitimation as a theoretical framework to analyze the reasons of unmarried Chinese women for avoiding marriage and childbirth and their identity construction. The findings indicate that, influenced by macro-level political, meso-level social, and micro-level personal factors, these women predominantly define their identities through 2 dimensions: self-affirmation and self-stigmatisation. This discourse is articulated via several discursive legitimation strategies, including authorization, moral evaluation, rationalization, and mythopoesis. By systematically examining the overarching discourse, this article aims to assist unmarried Chinese women in managing their fears and cultivating a balanced, rational sense of identity for future decision-making.