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Cited by 148Intimate Partner and Family ViolenceChild Nutrition and Water AccessGender Studies and Social Issues

Household sanitation facilities and women's risk of non-partner sexual violence in India

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Jadhav, Apoorva, Weitzman, Abigail, Smith-Greenaway, Emily·2016·BMC Public Health
DOI 10.1186/s12889-016-3797-zPMC PMC5100257
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Globally, one in ten individuals practice open defecation. Despite media speculation that it increases women's risk of sexual violence, little empirical evidence supports the claims. We investigate the relationship between household sanitation facilities and women's risk of non-partner sexual violence (NPSV) in India, where nearly half of the population lives without a pit or toilet. METHODS: We use the most recent NPSV data, from the National Family Health Survey-III, to estimate logistic regression models of the effects of household sanitation facilities (toilet, pit, or none) on NPSV in the last year among women who have resided in their current home for one year or more. These effects are estimated net of other socioeconomic factors, compared to effects of household sanitation facilities on child diarrhea, and, as a falsification test, compared to effects of household sanitation facilities on intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) in the last year. RESULTS: Net of their socioeconomic status, women who use open defecation are twice as likely to face NPSV as women with a household toilet. This is twice the association between open defecation and child diarrhea. The results of our falsification test indicate that open defecation is not correlated with IPSV, thus disconfirming a simultaneous selection of women into open defecation and sexual violence. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide empirical evidence that lacking household sanitation is associated with higher risk of NPSV.

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  • There exists a gap in empirical evidence on the impact of inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in the workplace for girls and women experiencing vaginal bleeding, and on the violence-related challenges facing those using communal and even household water, sanitation and hygiene facilities when using outside toilets at night or going for open defecation.

    “There also exists a gap in empirical evidence on the impact of inadequate WASH in the workplace for girls and women experiencing vaginal bleeding,5 and on the violence-related challenges facing those using communal (and even household) WASH facilities when using outside toilets at night, or going for open defecation.37 38”

    From Beyond menstrual hygiene: addressing vaginal bleeding throughout the life course in low and middle-income countries (2017) · cites this paper as [37]

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Authors
Jadhav, A., Weitzman, A., & Smith-Greenaway, E.
Affiliations
University of Michigan (US)
Corresponding author
Jadhav, Apoorva
ORCID
Venue
BMC Public Health
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2016-11-08
Volume
16
Issue
1
Pages
1139-1139
ISSN
1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12889-016-3797-z
PMC
PMC5100257
OpenAlex
W2550826591
Cited by
148
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 4 · 2015: 1
FWCI
12.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Institute on Aging (T32AG000221)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Studies and Social Issues
Keywords
household sanitation, open defecation, non-partner sexual violence, intimate partner sexual violence, women's health, childhood diarrhea, toilets, India
MeSH terms
Intimate Partner Violence, Child Health, Adolescent, Adult, Child, Defecation, Diarrhea, Family Characteristics, Female, Humans, India, Middle Aged, Rape, Risk Factors, Safety, Sanitation, Sex Offenses, Sexual Partners, Toilet Facilities, Women, Young Adult

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