World Toilet Day – What Bathrooms Have To Do With Social Equity

The provision of water, sanitation, and hygiene (also referred to as WASH) for all people is one of the most pressing issues in our world, and it is closely intertwined with other problems, such as social injustice and climate change. Globally, 4.2 billion people lack access to safe sanitation – this is more than half of humanity. Every year on November 19, the United Nations celebrate World Toilet Day to raise awareness of the issue.

Die Bereitstellung von Wasser, Sanitärversorgung und Hygiene (auch als WASH bezeichnet) für alle Menschen gehört zu den drängendsten Themen in unserer Welt und ist eng mit anderen Problemfeldern wie sozialer Ungerechtigkeit und Klimawandel verbunden. Weltweit fehlt 4,2 Milliarden Menschen der Zugang zu sicheren Sanitäreinrichtungen – das ist mehr als die Hälfte der Menschheit. Jedes Jahr am 19. November halten die Vereinten Nationen den Welttoilettentag ab, um dem Thema mehr Aufmerksamkeit zu verschaffen.

DOI: 10.34879/gesisblog.2021.54

“We shall not defeat any of the infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation, and basic healthcare.”

Kofi Annan

We All Do It

Whether rich or poor, young or old, man or woman, Chinese or Chilean or German: everyone does it – every day. However, people usually avoid talking about their toilet business, and if so, they prefer euphemisms like ‘number one and number two.’ What happens in the bathroom is something inherently private, but “the consequences of not having safe sanitation are of a highly public nature” 1. Globally, 4.2 billion people do not have a toilet, and 2.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. In this blog post, we look at the relationship between sanitation, gendered inequality, and environmental issues by drawing on data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2010 2 and the Eurobarometer from 2009 3 and 2017 4.

WASH Your Hands!

‘WASH’ stands for water, sanitation, and hygiene. It is the sixth goal of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 5. However, many people cannot afford to build toilets in their own homes or install pipes that supply them with clean drinking water 6. Especially considering the covid-19 pandemic, the fact that 2.3 billion people lack basic hygiene and thus do not even have the facilities for washing their hands is quite dramatic. In industrialized nations, it has now become almost inconceivable not to own a bathroom for private use. In a Eurobarometer wave from 2007, respondents were asked how necessary they considered having an indoor flushing toilet for the sole use of the household to have a decent standard of living in the respective country. In Figure 1, the answers for six European countries with differing GDPs per capita are visualized. In Cyprus, Germany, Luxembourg, and Spain, an overwhelming majority claim that no one should have to do without a private toilet. In Lithuania, where the GDP per capita is the lowest among the six countries, only about 43% think so. Surprisingly, only 49% of respondents from Denmark (which has a relatively high GDP per capita) think that a toilet is absolutely necessary, and almost 14% say that it is desirable but not necessary, or even not necessary at all.

Where Is The Ladies’ Room?

Unsafe sanitation and open defecation, in general, involve dangers, but the situation is particularly challenging for girls and women. Because mainly men are the decision-makers – be it in the household or in public policy – decisions are often “gender blind” and do not account for women’s particular needs, such as during menstruation 7. As many schools across the world do not have a restroom either (or at least not an adequate one), this issue also hinders girls’ education 8. Additionally, women are affected by a whole different kind of toilet insecurity: Men take advantage of the poor infrastructure to harass women, for example, in a public restroom that cannot be locked, or when a woman practices open defecation where her squatting position makes her particularly vulnerable 9. It might even happen that a woman’s public defecation is construed as ‘indecent’ behavior causing disgrace to her family. Women thus experience a multi-faceted burden that can only be eliminated with the proper measures. In a Eurobarometer wave from 2019, respondents were asked to estimate the most pressing challenges for the future of developing countries. As shown in Figure 2, water and sanitation, education, and health are among the most frequently named areas – this makes sense against the background that they are all closely intertwined. Climate change and gender equality, by contrast, seem to be less pressing issues for most respondents.  Particularly regarding gender equality, many respondents may not be aware of the extent to which it is related to other issues and can make the difference between life and death in many countries.

Everything Is Connected

Just how much everything is part of a system can also be seen in the consequences of inadequate sanitation for the environment. In the absence of sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants, sewage and excrements end up directly in rivers and groundwater. This pollution is accompanied by waterborne diseases like cholera or E. coli bacteria. Besides the contaminated water sources, general water shortage is also a common problem in many countries. If a country (or territory) “withdraws 25 per cent or more of its renewable freshwater resources,” it is considered to be water-stressed 10. More than 2 billion people live in water-stressed areas, tendency increasing. Figure 3 shows ISSP respondents’ opinions about the dangers of water pollution. German, Philippine, French, and Chilean respondents claim in the majority that they consider the pollution in their country to be extremely dangerous or very dangerous for the environment. In Norway and Switzerland, respondents are less concerned, maybe because the water there is indeed cleaner, which would be consistent with the idyllic scenery images many of us have in our minds when we think about these countries.

We have dedicated this blog post to a topic that is frequently afflicted with shame but is nevertheless incredibly important. Ultimately, our excretions are among the things that universally connect us as human beings. Everyone who wants to take a closer look at the different living conditions of people across the world – whether that concerns toilets, jewelry, shoes, dishes, toys, or much more – is invited to visit the homepage gapminder.org 11 and take a walk along Dollar Street. This eye-opening experience calls to mind how the poor, the rich, and those in-between live. Have a very

Happy World Toilet Day!

References

  1. United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF and the World Health Organization WHO (2021). The measurement and monitoring of water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) affordability: a missing element of monitoring of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Targets 6.1 and 6.2. New York. https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/unicef-who-2021-affordability-of-wash-services-summary.pdf
  2. ISSP Research Group (2019). International Social Survey Programme: Environment III – ISSP 2010. GESIS Data Archive, Cologne. ZA5500 Data file Version 3.0.0. doi:  10.4232/1.13271.
  3. European Commission (2012): Eurobarometer 67.1 (Feb-Mar 2007). TNS OPINION & SOCIAL, Brussels [Producer]. GESIS Data Archive, Cologne. ZA4529 Data file Version 3.0.1. doi: 10.4232/1.10983.
  4. European Commission and European Parliament, Brussels (2019): Eurobarometer 91.5 (2019). Kantar Public, Brussels [producer]. GESIS Data Archive, Cologne. ZA7576 Data file Version 1.0.0. doi: 10.4232/1.13393.
  5. United Nations (2021). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021. New York. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2021.pdf
  6. United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF and the World Health Organization WHO (2021). The measurement and monitoring of water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) affordability: a missing element of monitoring of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Targets 6.1 and 6.2. New York. https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/unicef-who-2021-affordability-of-wash-services-summary.pdf
  7. O’Reilly, Kathleen (2016). “From toilet insecurity to toilet security: creating safe sanitation for women and girls.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water 3.1: 19-24. https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/wat2.1122
  8. Sommer, Marni (2010). “Putting menstrual hygiene management on to the school water and sanitation agenda.” Waterlines 29.4: 268–278. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24686633
  9. O’Reilly, Kathleen (2016). “From toilet insecurity to toilet security: creating safe sanitation for women and girls.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water 3.1: 19-24. https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/wat2.1122
  10. United Nations (2021). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021. New York. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2021.pdf
  11. Gapminder (2021). Dollar Street [Tool]. Stockholm. https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street
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