Swachh Shakti: Why More Women Must Come Forward To Spearhead The Sanitation Revolution

Rural India’s tryst with toilets began with its first sanitation programme, the community rural sanitation programme (CRSP) in 1981, when the country’s rural sanitation coverage was a mere 1 per cent. By 2014, it was 39 per cent – an average of about 1 – increase in sanitation coverage per year. The year 2014 saw the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission - Gramin (SBM-G), which aimed to create an open defecation free India, by providing access to toilets for all. As we step into 2018, rural India’s sanitation coverage today stands at nearly 79 per cent – which means that the distance covered since Independence to the launch of the mission has now been covered since the launch of the mission in a matter of a little over three years.

Over six crore new households have been provided access to sanitation at such an accelerated pace. But construction of toilets alone is not sufficient for sustained behaviour change. The definition of open defecation free (ODF) itself is based on outcomes (behaviour change), not inputs (toilets constructed) which needs an army of foot soldiers engaged in this task at the village level. In this process of instilling new habits at the grassroots, some unlikely heroes have emerged as the champions of this people’s movement. Women, children, senior citizens, economically and socially backward communities are leading the way to a Swachh Bharat in the hinterlands of India. The role of women has, in particular, transformed tremendously since the launch of the mission, and it is instructive to analyse how and why.

Toilets For Women

Toilets are arguably one of the most potent tools of women empowerment in history. A 2012 National Bureau of Economic Research paper states, “there was no more important event that liberated women more than the invention of running water and indoor plumbing”.

A 2017 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation study found that there were significantly higher cases of women with lower body mass index in non-ODF areas than in ODF areas, indicating disproportionate impact of lack of sanitation on women’s health. At the same time, a 2017 International Monetary Fund research found that an improvement in public sanitation reduces women’s time spent in care giving work by 10 per cent, and leads to a 1.5 per cent increase in female labour participation. Sanitation also leads to higher female literacy rates. There are innumerable more examples and studies that establish the role of toilets as the unlikely feminist champion in the women’s empowerment movement.

But perhaps the biggest by-product of Swachh Bharat for women has been the shift it is effecting in the perception of women from victims to leaders.

Dignity First

One might recall a recent advertisement, featuring actor Vidya Balan, run under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan. In the advertisement, she is seen advocating that a new bride be given a toilet, else her ghoonghat would do nothing to preserve her dignity. The message was: “build a toilet for the woman to protect your family honour.” The ad was, sadly, mute on the regressive ghoonghat practice itself.

This is deeply problematic and acutely reflective of the prevalent narrative at the time – advocating toilets, while inadvertently reinforcing toxic patriarchal notions, such as, “women’s bodies are the property of her husband or family”, “man is the protector of the woman”, and “woman is the receptacle of family honour”.

It was no surprise that this myopic messaging proved counterproductive in the long run. Men around the country were found refusing to use toilets because of the belief that using a toilet is for women and, open defecation, by extension, a sign of virility. On the other hand, women’s groups were seen rallying against toilets, seen as a threat to their last freedom to leave the house at least once a day.

Under SBM-G, the 2016 gender guidelines emphasised the need for gender sensitive messaging for sanitation. Following this, the mission launched a national-level mass media campaign – Darwaza Band – that led the way by example. Several advertisements under this campaign feature eminent actor, Amitabh Bachchan, where he is seen coaxing, cajoling and coercing men to not only build toilets but also use them.

The second part of the campaign, featuring actor, Anushka Sharma, calls upon women to play a leadership role in promoting toilet use in their homes and villages, and celebrates their collective and individual strength as change-makers. This message, in particular, is a breath of fresh air compared to the traditional narrative of women as powerless victims, at the mercy of their men and families.

At the community level, the SBM-G gender guidelines also direct that “women should be represented in the leadership of SBM-G committees and institutions… so that their communities and villages can benefit not just from women’s participation but also their leadership”.

The resultant of these highly progressive directives is that Swachh Bharat has seen women of rural India transform in their role from victims to leaders. Women are seen taking up traditionally unconventional roles, like masons and contractors engaged in toilet construction. Many are also becoming Swachhagrahis, who deliver the behaviour change communication to the community, and earn an incentive for every toilet they help construct. Villages headed by women sarpanches are empirically found to be more likely to achieve and sustain ODF status.

Naari Shakti, Swachh Shakti

Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang in International Women’s Day 2017 with 6,000 women sarpanches under the banner, “Swachh Shakti”. Their stories offer a glimpse into the role women are playing for sanitation in rural India. Asha is a mason, working in a male dominated profession and building toilets in a patriarchal community of Rajasthan. Akamma, from Karnataka, mortgaged her own jewellery to construct a toilet for herself and those around her. Uttara Thakur, Chhattisgarh sarpanch, led her village to becoming ODF, undeterred by her own physical handicap. Sushila Kurkutte, a tribal woman from Maharashtra, personally dug her own toilet pit so that her family would have access to safe sanitation.

This International Women’s Day, with 11 states/Union territories, 314 districts and 3.2 lakh villages declared ODF, it is important to acknowledge and celebrate these “Swachh Shakti” icons who are at the forefront of the sanitation revolution happening in the country. It is also India’s sanitation revolution which, in turn, is emerging as arguably the biggest and most effective feminist movement silently underway in the country today.