Gender and Sanitation: Women’s Experiences in Rural Regions and Urban Slums in India

Abstract

Without adequate sanitation facilities, environmental, social, and health risks are common and worsen as the state of sanitation stagnates. Vulnerable groups, specifically women, are unequally affected by poor sanitation. Attitudes towards and perceptions of gender and menstruation have created a health and social discrepancy between women and men. Women must undergo additional obstacles when practicing proper sanitation and managing menstruation. This article utilizes the sanitation insecurity measure to assess the lived experience of women in rural and urban India. This article also discusses accounts of women’s experiences managing menstruation in both the rural regions and urban slums of India and discusses the social implications of the state of sanitation. Examining the issue of sanitation by focusing on menstruation and the dichotomy of men’s and women’s experiences with sanitation and hygiene will indicate that achieving gender equity requires sanitation to be viewed as a human rights, social justice, and education issue.