Page 67 - HUDCO-SHELTER-OCT21

POLICY REVIEW

creating infrastructure, which considerations for women’s access to sanitation facilities
is rarely fully functional in and girls’ preferences. Toilet and services.
the short run and hardly design clinics established in
sustainable in the long run. Kenya by Water & Sanitation Gaps in gender-sensitive
The investments fail to ensure for the Urban Poor (WSUP), public and community
household water security provide useful insights toilets can only be bridged
even in the short run and into a process that could be with leadership from city
the expenditures are limited replicated in India to expand governments/sanitary
to the construction of toilets on the features that should be authorities, as well as
while ignoring the waste considered in toilets to make innovation in planning
management and disposal them more appropriate for and financing structures.
system. Moreover, the women, girls, and children. Recognizing the gaps that
information, education and In Kenya, women clinic make public or community
awareness campaigns have participants were found to toilets less accessible or
not been effective due to their have more suggestions and unsafe for women, as well
poor designing to suit the low very specific inputs on the as programmes aimed at
literacy level population. type of floor (to allow for easy sensitising government
cleaning), location (to prevent officials, is critical, and must
The approach of menstrual the smell from entering the be accompanied by practical
hygiene management which house), and the appropriate solutions to close these gaps.
is currently limited to sanitary size and design for children,
napkins should also take into among other things. Having already emphasised
consideration the availability the importance of sanitation
of adequate infrastructure, RECOMMENDATIONS facilities and the gaps in the
access to proper health FOR GENDER present policy, it is imperative
education, tackling the INCLUSIVE PUBLIC to note that there is a need for
taboo around menstruation AND COMMUNITY proper legislation addressing
and devising alternatives to SANITATION the right to sanitation.
sanitary napkins. Since various policies are
The current schemes for running parallelly, there is
Women are more likely than sanitation provide incentives a large policy gap due to
men to want a toilet, but they for constructing toilets and overlapping jurisdictions.
are often limited in their ability some budget is allocated for There has to be legislation
to influence asset purchase creating awareness. However, setting out a comprehensive
decisions in the home. the scheme does not take policy framework. There are
Women’s limited influence into account the needs of currently no intrinsic drivers
on toilet construction is the marginalised sections, in the policies to encourage
explained by factors such as like women, toilets at the more female participation
household power hierarchies, workplace, disabled people, in sanitation interventions
women’s lack of confidence in etc. The sanitation ecosystem in India. The legislation
making decisions, and their needs to integrate elements should encourage the
financial dependence on men. of inclusion and equity in local governments, district

There is also a pressing need to the service chain. Socio- governments and state
machinery to include women
broaden the discussion about economic, and gender participation at both policy
toilet design for household dynamics across the service and implementation level.
toilets to include explicit chain result in inequalities in

October 2021 Volume 22 No. 2 - SHELTER 65