A woman troubled by an urge to pee has just one third of the options to empty her bladder in the privacy of a public toilet than her male counterpart in Hyderabad. Reason? For every 100 public toilets for women in the city, there are as many as 233 for men. And this is apart from the public urinals built exclusively for men.
In a curious case of gender bias that pertains to the urinary bladder, in Hyderabad, a cosmopolitan city with MNCs, an upcoming metro rail and multiplexes, women on the move have to search more and pay more if they need to use a public toilet. As per an audit done by the Hyderabad Urban Lab (HUL) in 2014, while public toilets are a rarity, those for women are even so.
But on Thursday, as people observed the World Toilet Day, a unique campaign was launched to set the priorities right. The campaign titled “Don’t hold it in” launched by HUL gives a mobile application and a map to locate toilets. While the app can come handy for both men and women, the latter might find the data more useful due to the sheer lack of such facilities.
In an urban locale like Hyderabad, women pay more to use toilets than men. While men pay Rs. 1 to 2 to relieve themselves, women on most occasions have to shell out Rs. 2 to 5 or more to use toilets. Ironically, the concept of urinals for women has not yet reached the city’s planning horizon.
However, as per The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), there should be one toilet for every kilometer in a city. Also, these should have separate compartments for women and differently-abled persons.
For those who started the ‘Don’t hold it in’ campaign on the website dontholdit.in , the work around toilets started over a year ago. While in July, 2014, the Lab came up with an audit of public toilets in Hyderabad, the group went on to create a database of the toilets for public utility. “In most cases, even the available toilets do not have amenities that support women like mugs, running water and dust bin,” said Anant Maringanti of Hyderabad Urban Labs.
Gender trouble
Women in the city are not just asked to pay more, but also expected to use the same toilets built for male comfort. While in most cases toilets do to have doors and even running water is a rarity.
Interestingly, while the Telangana government had gone on a toilet building spree along busy roads, not a single one was constructed for female citizens.
More, the city which has a sizable population of over 2,000 transgender women does not have toilets for the community despite the Nalsa Judgement of Supreme Court directing States to set up such facilities. However, the most affected parties are female construction and maintenance workers, who spend most of the time on city roads, explained the audit done by HUL.
As the world observed Toilet Day, HUL’s don’tholditin page was flooded by harrowing experiences of women who had at some point of time ventured out to use public toilets in Hyderabad.
In most cases, even the available toilets do not have amenities for women like mugs, running water and dust bin - Anant Maringanti of Hyderabad Urban Labs
