By Braima Koroma, Colin Marx, Soukeyna Mbaye, Tatu Mtwangi Limbumba, Jeannine Raoelimiadana, Claudy Vouhe
This blog reflects on the theme of ‘space’ as an element of sanitation justice.
We use the sanitation value chain to think about space(s) within the chain and across the chain. We go beyond appreciating the spatial distribution of ‘access to sanitation’ to consider ways in which space is integral to sanitation justice and gender equity. Tracking between experiences in African cities and towns and cities in the state of Tamil Nadu, we explore how spaces have social qualities, physical attributes, and how this is linked to opening spaces for gender equality in the sanitation value chain.
Access to land space or dwelling tenure status remains a significant sanitation challenge for low-income settlements and is experienced differently by women and men. In many cities in Africa informal settlements are characterised by rapid population growth coupled with the high density and proximity of households.
Any attempt to provide better sanitation infrastructure requires the navigation of complex land tenure arrangements. Obtaining land is deeply conflictual because of the revenue that alternative uses to sanitation can provide the landowners, and because the formal compensation processes move at a notoriously glacial pace when it comes to fair and adequate payment. The provision of sanitation services is inadequate because vacant spaces are rarely available which makes it difficult to construct community or public toilets that are connected to conventional sewers or to provide more effective on-site solutions.
For example, although they are quite compact, finding space to install on-site treatment units like the Multi Unit Reinvented Toilet (MURT) Treatment System constructed at Kottivakkam Beach community Toilet in Chennai, may also be difficult in some communities.
In the case of bio-digesters, space is problematic too, particularly in urban areas. In Saint Louis, biogas digesters would help reduce women’s sanitation workload at household level and cut their energy costs. However, a surface of 11m2 is required, and the reservoir must be placed under the biodigester to allow gravitation. Tough compounds hosting several families are probably more suited to biogas digester systems than individual households, even if they often do not provide the required space.
One response to this issue is for the sanitation authority to construct sanitation facilities and on-site treatment of fecal sludge on the edge of dense urban settlements. The OVERDUE team visited two community communal toilets (RMS Colony and Senkulam Colony in Tiruchirappalli) that were both located on the edge of the settlements. Both toilet and washing blocks were in densely settled areas of Tiruchirappalli and both occupied enough space to locate another dwelling. What was interesting was that there was no evident conflict over their sitting and their solid construction. Recent rehabilitations (in both cases) suggested that they were very much ‘here to stay’.
This is in stark contrast to attempts to identify land to create space for community or public toilets in many African cities. The Tiruchirappalli experience suggests that African sanitation authorities identify and acquire land for future sanitary facilities now.
Such interventions in Tiruchirappalli chime with the experience of women in Mwanza, Tanzania. In Mwanza, interviews with women revealed how sanitation spaces are socially important to them, both in terms of location and experience. This was especially so for female tenants living in multi-family houses where the toilet conditions were often poor and unsafe in terms of where they were located as well as the physical state (poor water supply, broken doors and filled pits). While a household toilet is important, the women preferred to use the public toilets in town as they went about their vending activities.
Similarly in Tiruchirappalli, the community toilets appeared to be an important space complementing the everyday experiences of women. For example, the women in the self-help groups have been able to put into place collaboration strategies allowing them to improve their social position. There are groups in all cities, and these are now coming together to strengthen their capacities. Thanks to this strategy, women have gone from being full-time volunteers to being partially paid.
The community toilet caretakers said the women using the toilets felt more comfortable because the toilets were spacious, women-friendly, clean, hygienic and provided a sense of safety and privacy; compared to the toilets at home. It is also possible that the walk to the toilet and outside space gave them time to be alone and reflect? In Mwanza, when asked how they would define the toilet space, a young woman said: “A space for quiet reflection…”.
A deeper focus on gendered spaces within aspects of the sanitation value chain also prompts questions about the space for gender equality across the chain. For instance, work spaces related to containment, transfer and management of fecal sludge are increasingly identified as places where gender is an issue, in Indian as in African cities.
While sanitation workers are a neglected sector of the workforce, women operating within the sector are even more hidden and discriminated against. However, some women are now carving out gendered spaces in the professional and masculine world of desludging. Against strong gendered stereotypes, they are gradually joining the ranks of desludging business owners, where they have demonstrated their ability to manage, make decisions and gain market shares.
