A Case of Restroom Injustice

One thing common to traveling by long distance trains, watching hutments near the railway line, and more recently, crossing slums (also portrayed in the award-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire), is the stench, cramped spaces, lack of hygiene and most importantly, lack of basic sanitation facilities, especially when it comes to women. Recently, as I took to road-trips more seriously, I stood witness to a startling problem, one which I was subject to as well – the case of ‘Restroom Injustice to Womenfolk’!

Keeping the adventure, fun and frolic aside, one thing has always made me cringe and continues to haunt me – ‘The pain of finding a decent, hygienic restroom and not falling sick with an infection on using a dirty one! Without sounding like a feminist, I can safely say that men, no matter what, never face an issue while on a road travel and can relieve themselves almost anywhere, and by that I mean ANYWHERE!

As funny as it may sound, I have several antics up my sleeve that I have had to put to use to find a decent restroom; some samples being:

• Locating a good petrol pump on a highway in spite of a full tank to run to the restroom (usually a decent petrol pump will have a clean, separate restroom for women)
• Realising the importance of a McDonalds or a Coffee Day on the highway – not to quench my thirst or fill my tummy with good food, but use the restroom in the hope of it being hygienic, clean and woman-friendly!
• Tricking the husband (read: forcing him with puppy-face expressions) into stopping at a fancy-looking restaurant/ hotel and make him drink the world’s most tasteless tea at Rs 30, just so that the wife can use that decent restroom there!

Wondering if I was being a drama queen or was there really such a dearth of sanitation facilities for women, I went looking up on the problem and I was taken aback with startling revelations. It is not simply the lack of separate, clean toilets for women on the highways, but a shameful lack of proper sanitization facilities across most cities, big and small. 

Here’s how:

• According to a NYT article printed recently, a census data found that more than half of Indian households lacked a toilet, a rate that has actually worsened in the past decade despite India’s growing wealth, as slums and other substandard housing have proliferated in growing cities (Read complete article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/world/asia/in-mumbai-a-campaign-against-restroom-injustice.html?pagewanted=all)
• A 2009 report by the Centre for Civil Society found that Delhi only has 132 public toilets for women (men had 1,534). In Mumbai, there are 10,300 pay-as-use toilets for a population of around 12.5 million (2011 provisional census data)—around one toilet per 10,769 people.
• For roughly half of India’s 1.2 billion people, toilets are still something of a luxury. Recent census findings show that 46.9% of households in India have a personal latrine, while 53.2% own cell phones.

While this is bad news for everyone, it is worse for women, and particularly for urban women, for whom, lack of a private toilet can mean the difference between safety and sexual assault. A 2010 report on Delhi slums by Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity found that of the 42 women in three slums surveyed, 66% suffered verbal abuse, 46% were stalked and 30% have been physically assaulted while going to the public toilet.

At a time when we presume India is shining, FDI is making its inroads, we’re winning Olympic medals, the most powerful country is standing up and taking notice of India, we somehow choose to shun some of the most basic problems, which, if ignored, can snowball into disaster… Well then, is there something called hope and resolve to this?!?!

Thankfully there has been some action, and one can see some light at the end of this dark, dingy, dirty tunnel… A few years ago, the Haryana Government started its ‘No Toilet, No Bride’ campaign, painting walls across the state with the slogan: “I won’t allow my daughter to marry into a home without toilets. Not very long ago, superstar Shah Rukh Khan stated that he wanted to build public utilities for women through his own investment, in small towns and villages…

In another instance, a tribal bride from Madhya Pradesh's Betul district had risked her marriage and left her household in the absence of an indoor lavatory. She was even invited by then President Pratibha Patil and Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who honoured her for her boldness towards a social cause.

Another girl from Kanchanpur Kuiya village threatened to leave her in-laws' home after three days of staying there while strongly objecting to the absence of a proper toilet in the house.

Looking at all these instances, I am pleasantly surprised and proud that more rural women are stepping out to fight for a ‘clean’ change within the society! But don’t you think it is about time the educated, urban, fairer sex swung into action???