menstruating and struggle to ensure that they give no sign of menstruation. effective educational programs are essential to providing children and adolescents with clear and accurate information about menstruation. schools can be an appropriate place for menstrual education to take place. programs led by peers or third-party agencies are another option. low-income girls are less likely to receive proper sex education on puberty, leading to a decreased understanding of why menstruation occurs and the associated physiological changes that take place. this has been shown to cause the development of a negative attitude towards menstruation. seclusion during menstruation awareness raising through education is taking place among women and girls to modify or eliminate the practice of chhaupadi in nepal. in some cultures, women were isolated during menstruation due to menstrual taboos. this is because they are seen as unclean, dangerous, or bringing bad luck to those who encounter them. these practices are common in parts of south asia including india. a 1983 report found women refraining from household chore during this period in india. chhaupadi is a social practice that occurs in the western part of nepal for hindu women, which prohibits a woman from participating in everyday activities during menstruation. women are considered impure during this time and are kept out of the house and have to live in a shed. although chhaupadi was outlawed by the supreme court of nepal in 2005, the tradition is slow to change. women and girls in cultures which practice such seclusion are often confined to menstruation huts, which are places of isolation used by cultures with strong menstrual taboos. the practice has recently come under fire due to related fatalities. nepal criminalized the practice in 2017 after deaths were reported after the elongated isolation periods, but "the practice of isolating menstruating women and girls continues." effects of the moon even though the average length of the human menstrual cycle is similar to that of the lunar cycle, in modern humans there is no relation between the two. the relationship is believed to be a coincidence. light exposure does not appear to affect the menstrual cycle in humans. a meta-analysis of studies from 1996 showed no correlation between the human menstrual cycle and the lunar cycle, nor did data analyzed by period-tracking app clue, submitted by 1.5 million women, of 7.5 million menstrual cycles, however the lunar cycle and the average menstrual cycle were found to be basically equal in length. cohabitation beginning in 1971, some research suggested that menstrual cycles of cohabiting women became synchronized (menstrual synchrony). subsequent research has called this hypothesis into question. a 2013 review concluded that menstrual synchrony likely does not exist. work some countries, mainly in asia, have menstrual leave to provide women with either paid or unpaid leave of absence from their employment while they are menstruating. countries with policies include japan, taiwan, indonesia, and south korea. the practice is controversial due to concerns that it bolsters the perception of women as weak, inefficient workers, as well as concerns that it is unfair to men, and that it furthers gender stereotypes and the medicalization of menstruation. other mammals main articles: menstrual cycle § evolution and other species, and menstruation (mammal) most female mammals have an estrous cycle, but not all have a menstrual cycle that results in menstruation. menstruation in mammals occurs in some close evolutionary relatives such as chimpanzees.