The Toilet Thread

[Narada]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR2009101101934.html?wprss%3Drss_world&sub=AR

In rural India, many young women are refusing to marry unless the suitor furnishes their future home with a bathroom, freeing them from the inconvenience and embarrassment of using community toilets or squatting in fields.

 

"I won't let my daughter near a boy who doesn't have a latrine," said Usha Pagdi, who made sure that daughter Vimlas Sasva, 18, finished high school and took courses in electronics at a technical school.

"No loo? No 'I do,' " Vimlas said, laughing as she repeated a radio jingle.

"My father never even allowed me an education," Pagdi said, stroking her daughter's hair in their half-built shelter near a lagoon strewn with trash. "Every time I washed the floors, I thought about how I knew nothing. Now, young women have power. The men can't refuse us."

Indian girls are traditionally seen as a financial liability because of the wedding dowries -- often a life's savings -- their fathers often shell out to the groom's family. But that is slowly changing as women marry later and grow more financially self-reliant. More rural girls are enrolled in school than ever before.

A societal preference for boys here has become an unlikely source of power for Indian women. The abortion of female fetuses in favor of sons -- an illegal but widespread practice -- means there are more eligible bachelors than potential brides, allowing women and their parents to be more selective when arranging a match.

"I will have to work hard to afford a toilet. We won't get any bride if we don't have one now," said Harpal Sirshwa, 22, who is hoping to marry soon. Neem tree branches hung in the doorway of his parents' home, a sign of pride for a family with sons. "I won't be offended when the woman I like asks for a toilet."

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Satellite television and the Internet are spreading images of rising prosperity and urban middle-class accouterments to rural areas, such as spacious apartments -- with bathrooms -- and women in silk saris rushing off to the office.

India's rapid urbanization has also contributed to rising aspirations in small towns and villages. On a crowded highway that runs into this village, about 170 miles north of New Delhi, young women, once seen clinging to the backs of motorbikes driven by their fathers or husbands, now drive their own scooters. One recent popular TV ad shows a rural girl sheepishly entering a scooter showroom, then beaming as she whizzes through the parking lot on her new moped.

[tanya]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR2009101101934.html?wprss%3Drss_world&sub=AR

India's rapid urbanization has also contributed to rising aspirations in small towns and villages. On a crowded highway that runs into this village, about 170 miles north of New Delhi, young women, once seen clinging to the backs of motorbikes driven by their fathers or husbands, now drive their own scooters. One recent popular TV ad shows a rural girl sheepishly entering a scooter showroom, then beaming as she whizzes through the parking lot on her new moped.

I'd love to see that ad. Any idea the brand so I can poke around on youtube?

[NewLaura]

Narada only posted portions of that Washington Post article (the parts Narada found amusing?), so I'm going to post the complete article below.  I don't think the article is talking about luxury bathrooms.  It is talking about latrines.  I added the highlighting.


In India, New Seat of Power for Women
Prospective Brides Demand Sought-After Commodity: A Toilet
   
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 12, 2009

NILOKHERI, India -- An ideal groom in this dusty farming village is a vegetarian, does not drink, has good prospects for a stable job and promises his bride-to-be an amenity in high demand: a toilet.

In rural India, many young women are refusing to marry unless the suitor furnishes their future home with a bathroom, freeing them from the inconvenience and embarrassment of using community toilets or squatting in fields.

About 665 million people in India -- about half the population -- lack access to latrines. But since a "No Toilet, No Bride" campaign started about two years ago, 1.4 million toilets have been built here in the northern state of Haryana, some with government funds, according to the state's health department.

Women's rights activists call the program a revolution as it spreads across India's vast and largely impoverished rural areas.

"I won't let my daughter near a boy who doesn't have a latrine," said Usha Pagdi, who made sure that daughter Vimlas Sasva, 18, finished high school and took courses in electronics at a technical school.

"No loo? No 'I do,' " Vimlas said, laughing as she repeated a radio jingle.

"My father never even allowed me an education," Pagdi said, stroking her daughter's hair in their half-built shelter near a lagoon strewn with trash. "Every time I washed the floors, I thought about how I knew nothing. Now, young women have power. The men can't refuse us."

Indian girls are traditionally seen as a financial liability because of the wedding dowries -- often a life's savings -- their fathers often shell out to the groom's family. But that is slowly changing as women marry later and grow more financially self-reliant. More rural girls are enrolled in school than ever before.

A societal preference for boys here has become an unlikely source of power for Indian women. The abortion of female fetuses in favor of sons -- an illegal but widespread practice -- means there are more eligible bachelors than potential brides, allowing women and their parents to be more selective when arranging a match.

"I will have to work hard to afford a toilet. We won't get any bride if we don't have one now," said Harpal Sirshwa, 22, who is hoping to marry soon. Neem tree branches hung in the doorway of his parents' home, a sign of pride for a family with sons. "I won't be offended when the woman I like asks for a toilet."

Satellite television and the Internet are spreading images of rising prosperity and urban middle-class accouterments to rural areas, such as spacious apartments -- with bathrooms -- and women in silk saris rushing off to the office.

India's rapid urbanization has also contributed to rising aspirations in small towns and villages. On a crowded highway that runs into this village, about 170 miles north of New Delhi, young women, once seen clinging to the backs of motorbikes driven by their fathers or husbands, now drive their own scooters. One recent popular TV ad shows a rural girl sheepishly entering a scooter showroom, then beaming as she whizzes through the parking lot on her new moped.

With economic freedom, women are increasingly expecting more, and toilets are at the top of their list, they say.

The lack of sanitation is not only an inconvenience but also contributes to the spread of diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid and malaria.

"Women suffer the most since there are prying eyes everywhere," said Ashok Gera, a doctor who works in a one-room clinic here. "It's humiliating, harrowing and extremely unhealthy. I see so many young women who have prolonged urinary tract infections and kidney and liver problems because they don't have a safe place to go."

Previous attempts to bring toilets to poor Indian villages have mostly failed. A 2001 project sponsored by the World Bank never took off because many people used the latrines as storage facilities or took them apart to build lean-tos, said Ranjana Kumari, director of the Center for Social Research in New Delhi, who worked on the program.

But by linking toilets to courtship, "No Toilet, No Bride" has been the most successful effort so far. Walls in many villages are painted with slogans in Hindi, such as "I won't get my daughter married into a household which does not have a toilet." Even popular soap operas have featured dramatic plots involving the campaign.

"The 'No Toilet, No Bride' program is a bloodless coup," said Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International, a social organization, and winner of this year's Stockholm Water Prize for developing inexpensive, eco-friendly toilets. "When I started, it was a cultural taboo to even talk about toilets. Now it's changing. My mother used to wake up at 4 a.m. to find someplace to go quietly. My wife wakes up at 7 a.m., and can go safely in her home."

Pathak runs a school and job-training center for women who once cleaned up human waste by hand. They are known as untouchables, the lowest caste in India's social order. As more toilets come to India, the women are less likely to have to do such jobs, Pathak said.

"I want so much for them to have skills and dignity," Pathak said. "I tell the government all the time: If India wants to be a superpower, first we need toilets. Maybe it will be our women who finally change that."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR2009101101934.html?wprss%3Drss_world&sub=AR

[someone]

Thanks for posting, NewLaura! What a brilliant idea for a social campaign! Now that's prize-worthy.. more power to people like Bindeshwar Pathak and his NGO.

[emel3]

The vast divide between men and wome ALWAYS comes down to the toilets -- the old saw about not being able to admit women to the "Old Boys' Clubs" (of whatever type/ kind that may be) was that there would be no washroom facilities for them!

so, yes hahahaha toilet humour, toilets win the day!  I guess that's the BOTTOM line!

[Ranranbolly]

I heard about this awhile back, but I do think it's a great program.

I live in America, so I haven't actually encountered anyone without a toilet in his or her home...but I certainly think I wouldn't want to move in with and marry a guy who didn't even have a latrine...ugh.

[tabula rasa]

Now that we've established what the article is *really* about, can there be a title change please?

[Narada]

No!

[Poonam]

Now that we've established what the article is *really* about, can there be a title change please?

Yes, entirely misleading!

What a brilliant programme. The simplicity of it is positively Gandhian. Lots of girls in rural areas and poor urban areas stop going to school when they reach puberty - one reason being lack of separate toilets or worse, no toilets at all.

[James]

As it facilitates forum use to have descriptive thead titles, this thread's title has been updated as requested. 

[jjake61]

November 19th is World Toilet Day!  Ms. Chandni had this site posted on her FB page so I thought it would be relevent to this discussion.

http://water.org/2009/09/four-ways-a-toilet-can-change-a-girls-life/

I think I will make a donation in Narada's name! 

[JenniferJanu]

Wow. What a positive story. It's also one of those stories that makes you realize the things you take for granted. When is the last time you were thankful for a toilet in your house or office? I'm feeling even more appreciative about mine right now. 

[Darshana]

I have always wondered how India's sanitation problem would be corrected - I've always found it traumatizing to even think about - and this program is so hope-giving. 

I've posted this before, I am so happy when someone finds a way to use a popular television show that "everybody" watches in order to help people change in a good direction.  This seems like such a great way to bring together "tradition" and progress for the benefit of womenn (and everyone).

[Narada]

November 19th is World Toilet Day!  Ms. Chandni had this site posted on her FB page so I thought it would be relevent to this discussion.

http://water.org/2009/09/four-ways-a-toilet-can-change-a-girls-life/

I think I will make a donation in Narada's name! 

Thank You?   

 

[omlick]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/30/world/asia/AP-AS-FEA-India-Toilets-and-Cell-Phones.html?src=me&ref=world

From this article it seems that a new dawn may be on the horizon to get India up to speed with sanitation.

[BollyThis]

The Lefties of NYTimes are mocking the achievement or the lack thereoff of the Lefties of India who have ruled India almost the entire time in the last 65 years for their failure to the delight of the   Lefty NY Time subscribers of the   world? Oh! The Irony!

 

India can easily solve the Public toilet problem by setting up pay for toilet booths all over. But the lefties would not hear of it. Pay to poop? Oh no.. its everyone's right to poo poo everywhere and anywhere for FREE!

People can organize, People can build, People can operate, People can maintain, People can profit. People can improve their own affairs.... Provided you don't look to the govt to solve anything.

My message to desis would be: NEVER look towards the government to solve your problems... especially the left congress govt. You can wait another 65 years for your next Poo Poo hoping the Eva Peron (The Italian woman who has sense of entitlement so her children can rule) would come up with solving their Poo problem!

[Anamika]

Since we already had a thread about the lack of toilets in India, I've merged and re-titled the two threads.

[omlick]

The Lefties of NYTimes are mocking the achievement or the lack thereoff of the Lefties of India who have ruled India almost the entire time in the last 65 years for their failure to the delight of the   Lefty NY Time subscribers of the   world? Oh! The Irony!

 

India can easily solve the Public toilet problem by setting up pay for toilet booths all over. But the lefties would not hear of it. Pay to poop? Oh no.. its everyone's right to poo poo everywhere and anywhere for FREE!

People can organize, People can build, People can operate, People can maintain, People can profit. People can improve their own affairs.... Provided you don't look to the govt to solve anything.

My message to desis would be: NEVER look towards the government to solve your problems... especially the left congress govt. You can wait another 65 years for your next Poo Poo hoping the Eva Peron (The Italian woman who has sense of entitlement so her children can rule) would come up with solving their Poo problem!

If someone is alive they are going to eat and then the poop is going to come out and that is reality.  If they have money or not to pay for a toilet.  So, I feel that the government which exists for the welfare of the people should provide proper sewage and sanitation.   this is necessary to maintain a civilization.  Wallowing in poop is not the ideal situation to maintain a healthy society.  And disease knows no class or ethnicity.

[omlick]

I missed the documentary "World's Toilet Crisis" on Current TV, but I did hear the statistic of about 600 million Indians do not have access to a toilet.  This means that poo is everywhere and presents a major health hazard.

I saw that the Yamuna river in Dehli is loaded with poo and even bubbles with methane.  

I think that if India can be the next great economic power it can fix its sewer problems.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Delhi - Methane gas is bubbling up from the black-coloured stew, and the water smells horrible. India's holy river Yamuna, once teeming with life, is practically dead, yet a homeless man is rinsing his mouth with the noxious liquid.

Under a nearby bridge, scavengers on a self-made raft are fishing out votive offerings that drivers throw from their cars to Yamuna, which is worshipped by Hindus as a goddess.

But it is people and politics that are choking Yamuna to death, and ecologists are warning of a looming environmental catastrophe as World Water Day approaches on March 22.

The river, New Delhi's lifeline, is reputed to be India's most polluted as well as one of the most toxic waterways worldwide.

The Yamuna provides an example of Indian government policies that are focused on economic growth, often at the cost of the environment.

In the meantime, the river is dying a slow yet unpublicized death, partly because it has mostly vanished from public sight behind concrete after the river was moved. A highway now runs along the old riverbed.

Access to the river is possible at only a few points and glimpses of it can be gained only from road or subway bridges.

Vimlendu K Jha, executive director of the environmental organization Swechha, estimates that 60 per cent of New Delhi's 14 million people have never seen the river.

"How can you save the Yamuna if nobody ever sees it?" he asks.

The river is indeed rather beautiful - before it reaches New Delhi and is polluted with raw sewage and toxic waste.

Outside the capital, its waters are clear, birds are sailing above its surface and fishermen cast their nets.

But at this point of its course, most of the river's waters are held back by an irrigation dam in the neighbouring state of Haryana in violation of federal agreements, which is one of the causes for the problems downstream.

The sluice gates let pass only a trickle, which is then "replenished" with human and industrial sewage as soon as the river reaches New Delhi.

Eighteen major sewage canals in the capital are emptying into the holy river, depleting it of its oxygen.

Authorities in New Delhi have assessed the water as so toxic that they have even prohibited cleaning animals with it. It may only be used to cool industrial machinery.

But the many homeless people living along its banks have no access to a regular tap water supply. They are forced to use the Yamuna's waters to wash themselves and their clothes. Some even use it for cooking and drinking, according to Jha, because they had no alternative.

"For them, it is better to have unhealthy water than no water at all," he says.

The Yamuna stretches for 1,370 kilometres, but only 22 kilometres of these flow through New Delhi. It is in this short stretch during which 80 per cent of its pollution is inflicted, Swechha says.

Another 9 per cent of the pollution is attributed to the city of Agra, home to the world-famous Taj Mahal, behind which the Yamuna passes.

The river eventually spills its toxic floods into India's holiest river, the Ganges.

Although millions of dollars have been spent in recent years to revive the river, Jha said: "We don't know where the money has gone. The action plans were useless. Nothing happened. The river is your witness."

Instead, he claims, the pollution is increasing because most sewage treatment plants in New Delhi are not functioning properly.

The river still constitutes the capital's most important source of drinking water, which is simply pumped from the river before it enters New Delhi.

But its toxins also contaminate groundwater, another important drinking water source for the ever-growing metropolis.

"We are just waiting for a disaster to happen," Jha warns. "Everyone seems to be thinking the city is run by malls and the metro. It's not."

That disaster might happen "when people start dying in a plague-like situation" in the capital because of their toxic drinking water, he says.

Posted by Earth Times Staff


Posted by Earth Times Staff
 
 


 

[Honeycomb]

Here's a link to this fascinating program by Vanguard - "World's Toilet Crisis"- definitely not for the squeamish..! Nevertheless, I think they should show this everywhere.

http://current.com/shows/vanguard/92482205_worlds-toilet-crisis.htm

[Manturo]

I say good for her.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17022847

A newlywed woman in a village in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has won her struggle to have a toilet at her husband's home.

Anita Narre left husband Shivram's home two days after her marriage in May last year because the house had no toilet.

She returned eight days later after Shivram, a daily wage worker, built one with savings and aid from villagers.

An NGO announced a $10,000 reward for Mrs Narre for her "brave" decision and forcing her husband to build a toilet.

More than half-a-billion Indians still lack access to basic sanitation.

The problem is acute in rural India and it is the women who suffer most.

Shivram said he was not able to build a toilet at home because of lack of money.

He admitted that his wife returned home only after he constructed one with his savings and "some support from the village council".

"It is not nice for women to go outside to defecate. That's why every home should have a toilet. Those who don't should make sure there is one," Mrs Narre told the BBC.

Many people in India do not have access to flush toilets or other latrines.

But under new local laws in states including Chhattisgarh, people's representatives are obliged to construct a flush toilet in their own home within a year of being elected. Those who fail to do so face dismissal.

The law making toilets mandatory has been introduced in several states as part of the "sanitation for all" drive by the Indian government.

The programme aims to eradicate the practice of open defecation, which is common in rural and poor urban areas of India.

Special funds are made available for people to construct toilets to promote hygiene and eradicate the practice of faeces collection - or scavenging - which is mainly carried out by low-caste people.

[Dil Bert]

CHENNAI: Six months ago, when B Loganayaki was seeking a bride for her brother she was baffled by the questions posed. "Most parents asked if there was a toilet in our house," said the panchayat federation leader from Kothambakkam in Tiruvallur. "Three even insisted on checking."

Many may feel Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh's 'no toilet, no bride' mantra is a fresh idea. But it has been in vogue for sometime in rural Tamil Nadu, partly due to campaigns by NGOs.

[...]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/No-toilet-no-bride-is-old-mantra-in-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/16999959.cms

[Dariya]

I wonder if they mean an Indian or a Western toilet?
When I read the title my mind went straight to the "villages without women" phenomenon in India due to female infanticide, and if maybe brides were starting to be seen as more precious due to scarcity, and therefore the families of young women starting to have a lot more bargaining power when arranging unions.  Of course I don't know what the case is in Tamil Nadu, since I've mostly heard about the lack of women in the context of Northern rural India.