In India, Dying to Go: Why Access to Toilets is a Women’s Rights Issue

In India, Dying to Go: Why Access to Toilets is a Women’s Rights Issue

Abstract:

Access to clean, safe and private toilets is a women’s issue.
 

In May, two young women in rural India left their modest homes in the middle of the night to relieve themselves outside. Like millions in India, their homes had no bathrooms. The next morning, their bodies were found hanging from a mango tree. They had been attacked, gang-raped and strung up by their own scarves. Eighteen months after a gang-rape on a Delhi bus, this incident and others since have galvanized nationwide protests to end violence against women and highlighted caste-related discrimination. The tragic story also underscores the need to talk about another taboo topic: open defecation.

: Sharmila Murthy | June 25 2014
: Sharmila L. Murthy discusses the dearth of access to sanitation resources for women worldwide.
Last updated on 02/03/2020