Gendering Psychosocial Stress: Open Defecation Among Slum Households in Peri-

Urban Bangalore, India

Durba Biswas

Fellow

Centre for Environment and DevelopmentWater, Land and Society Program

ATREE, India

durba.biswas@atree.org

@DurbaBiswas_

Open defecation in the context of urbanisation

• In India, open defecation in urban areas has come down from 23.5% to 7.4% of urban population between 2000 and 2015.

• There is persistence of OD in urban spaces and given that 33.6 % of Indians now live in urban and urbanising areas, the absolute numbers are large.

• Wellbeing impacts of OD: Physical health

• Recent research on psychosocial impacts of OD: among women in rural and urban spaces(Hulland et al, 2015; Kulkarni et al. 2017)

• Psychosocial impact of OD on men and women in peri-urban India

Research questions

• In Peri-urban India, who practices OD and why does it persists?

• What are the gendered psychosocial impacts of OD?

• What do women want from sanitation projects?

Study area

Bangalore city

Nelamangala, Binnamangala Catchment

In urban spaces, who defecates in the open?

7%

73%

14%

3%

3%Piped sewer system

Septic tank

Pit latrine

Open defecation

Others

Source: Census 2011

Study Area

Jayanagar Slum, Nelamangala

Total Population: 957 Male: 421, Female: 527

The town has no centralised sewerage networks.

Toilets are connected to soak-away pits

OD practiced in slum communities

Methods

Multiple rounds of interviews using multiple methods

A total of 40 men and women were interviewed in the first phase

Focus group discussions and case studies were conducted

Mapping Open Defecation

Not-So-Open Defecation Site

Site Matters

• Small plots

• Not segregated by gender

• Buildings and homes close to the site

• Plots can be built upon at anytime

Gendered Psychosocial stress

Fear of Sexual aggression and Shame

Most of the women have experienced sexual aggression.

“I feel awkward talking to men in my age group since they all know that I am going for open defecation…..I feel very ashamed when I go outside to defecate, and some man is sitting nearby. I come back home, wait for a while, and then go again. Sometimes, I have an urgent need to go, but I have to manage; I don’t have a choice.” (Young woman, 17)

“I always hide in behind big bushes and trees…. I just want to finish as soon as possible, so that nobody sees me…..what else I can do?....Sometimes the most awkward experience of your life happens while you are squatting there. You are doing it, and suddenly a man comes there. At that time, you have to get up to hide what you are doing, right? That is the most embarrassing situation for all of us when we are defecating in the open.” (Woman, 44)

Shared shame and “family’s dignity”

“I never allow my sose (son’s wife) to go alone…I always accompany her. If I need to go outside, then I ensure that she goes with the neighbors for open defecation. It’s a matter of her safety, as well as the dignity of my family.” (Woman, 44)

Nearly half of the women who regularly practice open defecation reported feeling acute pressure to uphold the family’s dignity.

For men, the psychosocial stress emerged from the fact that women in their family could be sexually harassed while practicing open defecation – explains their anxiety over poor sanitation facilities

Menstruation and Shame

During periods, women experience additional psychosocial stress.

“This situation becomes worse when I am on my period. I choose to go to the far end of the open area so that people don’t find out that I am having my period. I eat less during that time so that I do not need to go more than once for open defecation. I also choose to go even earlier than on other days. Carrying extra water is also necessary during those days so that I can properly rinse off the blood.” (Woman, 44)

Moreover, when toilets are shared, women on their periods can revert to OD.

Photo: Common toilet for 8 household Photo: toilet constructed under SBA, 2015-16

Sanitation Related Caretaking

Women and young girls are also responsible for the sanitation needs of children, elderly, and the disabled in their family.

Their sanitation responsibility extends beyond themselves

General Psychosocial StressDisgust

“I have been defecating in the open for the past 58 years…every morning we have to take our dabba (water can) and go into the open to freshen up. Every morning we encounter dirt and shit, and if we are not walking carefully, we step on shit. Shit is everywhere. I get frustrated seeing all the shit in the morning.” (Man, 58)

Fear of confrontation

• Shame and embarrassment of being ‘called out’ or ‘scolded’ by community members living near the site.

• Over half of the respondents reported experiencing sanitation related confrontation

• The confrontations impacts their social relationships with other members of the slum

Coping with poor sanitation

Women regulate own/others bodies

• Reducing the intake of food and water

• Regulating their sleep

• Regulating sanitation timing and place of dependent relatives

• Trading off hygiene for safety

Men do not regulate their bodies

Aspirations to build toilets

Everyone who did not already have a toilet, wanted to build toilets

Reasons for not having private toilets?– Capital cost (reimbursement under SBM is a significant cost

barrier)– Space limitations– Differences in level of information

“I am working as a cook in the government school and my monthly income is rupees 1900. We are the family of five members. Nobody in my family is earning very well. I feel the need of sauchalaya (toilet), but we are unable to get the government scheme for building the toilet in our home till now. I feel bad, we are now trying to get the loan for building our own toilet.” (Women, 45).

Complicating Gendered Stress The stringent cultural and patriarchal context embeds the dignity of the family onto the dignity of the women.

Produces private psychosocial stress in women and collective psychosocial stress for the whole family as a family’s honor is tied closely to women’s dignity;

Women from economically vulnerable backgrounds are responsible for managing private sanitation needs and sanitation needs of their dependents.

Women’s role as caretaker implies that they are responsible for safe OD for their dependents.

While women practiced multiple coping strategies to reduce exposure to risks even at the cost of their overall health men tended to have no need for stringent coping strategies.

Unlike in rural areas where open defecation is preferred to toilets (Coffey et al. 2014) communities in rapidly urbanizing areas have a preference for toilets over open-defecation.

What are women asking for?

• Pay and use toilets – on payment through monthly pass rather than per use basis, does not solve the distance issue

• Separate toilet blocks for men and women with sufficient distance between

• Equal number of western toilets and Indian pans

• Adequate water supply and a municipality assigned cleaner for maintaining the toilets.

• Proper collection of menstrual waste products and septage management

Acknowledgement

Shweta JoshiPriyanka JamwalAnu KarippalD S KumarKavita WankhadeGeetika Anand

Thank You