Women’s role in sanitation decision making in rural coastal Odisha, India.
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BACKGROUND: While women and girls face special risks from lack of access to sanitation facilities, their ability to participate and influence household-level sanitation is not well understood. This paper examines the association between women's decision-making autonomy and latrine construction in rural areas of Odisha, India. METHODS: We conducted a mixed-method study among rural households in Puri district. This included a cross sectional survey among 475 randomly selected households. These were classified as either having a functional latrine, a non-functional latrine or no latrine at all. We also conducted 17 in-depth interviews and 9 focus group discussions among household members of these three categories of households. RESULTS: Decisions on the construction of household level sanitation facilities were made exclusively by the male head in 80% of households; in 11% the decision was made by men who consulted or otherwise involved women. In only 9% of households the decision was made by women. Households where women were more involved in general decision making processes were no more likely to build a latrine, compared to households where they were excluded from decisions. Qualitative research revealed that women's non-involvement in sanitation decision making is attributed to their low socio-economic status and inability to influence the household's financial decisions. Female heads lacked confidence to take decisions independently, and were dependent on their spouse or other male family members for most decisions. The study revealed the existence of power hierarchies and dynamics within households, which constrained female's participation in decision-making processes regarding sanitation. CONCLUSIONS: Though governments and implementers emphasize women's involvement in sanitation programmes, socio-cultural factors and community and household level dynamics often prevent women from participating in sanitation-related decisions. Measures are needed for strengthening sanitation policies and effective implementation of programmes to address gender power relations and familial relationships that influence latrine adoption and use.
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WASH programs have inhibited women's decision-making participation by targeting men or reinforcing gender norms.
“WASH programs also have inhibited women's decisionmaking participation by targeting men [102, 124] or reinforcing gender norms [71,126].”
From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [124]
Limited income and asset access and control, including over land, constrained women's access to sanitation and limited independent decision-making about latrine construction; women reported using public pay-per-use toilets and incurring higher costs than men due to more frequent need.
“Similarly, limited income and asset access and control, including over land, constrained women's access to sanitation [119, 124, 125, 135, 147, 168, 171, 174, 186, 187, 191, 217, 239, 240, 270] and limited independent decision-making about latrine construction [119, 124, 135].Women reported using public pay-per-use toilets [168, 171, 174, 227, 239, 270] and incurring higher costs than men due to”
From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [124]
Studies have documented women's specific household-level water and sanitation-related knowledge; in Kenya, women's roles as primary water collectors instilled knowledge about water access, quality, and quantity; in Pakistan, mothers and grandmothers were a source of knowledge and influenced household decision-making about water and hygiene; and in indigenous communities in Canada and the U.S.,
“Studies have documented women's specific household-level water and sanitation-related knowledge [118, 124, 159].In Kenya, women's roles as primary water collectors instilled knowledge about water access, quality, and quantity [76].In Pakistan, mothers and grandmothers were a source of knowledge and influenced household decisionmaking about water and hygiene, [118] while in indigenous communities”
From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [124]
NGOs have targeted men as household heads and ignored women in decision-making and public participation.
“NGOs have targeted men as household heads and ignored women in decision-making and public participation [124].”
From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [124]
In India, only 9% of sanitation decisions were made by women, and only 11% were made in consultation with women.
“For instance, Routray et al. [14] found that only 9% of sanitation decisions in India were made by women, and only 11% were made in consultation with women.”
From What if your husband doesn’t feel the pressure? An exploration of women’s involvement in WaSH decision making in Nyanchwa, Kenya. (2019) · cites this paper as [14]
Women and girls are often excluded from WaSH decision-making and implementation processes.
“However, they are often excluded from WaSH decision-making and implementation processes.”
From What if your husband doesn’t feel the pressure? An exploration of women’s involvement in WaSH decision making in Nyanchwa, Kenya. (2019) · cites this paper as [14]
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References 37 · Cited by 105
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- [9]Caruso B. Sanitation Insecurity: Definition, Measurement, and Associations with Women's Mental Health in Rural Orissa, India, PhD. Dissertation. 2015.
- [22]Coffey D, Gupta A, Hathi P, Khurana N, Spears D, Srivastav N, et al., Revealed preference for open defecation. Economic & Political Weekly. 2014; 49(38): 43.
- [41]Mohanty SR, Das BL, Mohanty T. Capacity building and decision-making of Rural Odisha women through participation in microenterprises. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications. 2013; 3(7).
- Authors
- Routray, P., Torondel, B., Clasen, T., & Schmidt, W.-P.
- Affiliations
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- Emory University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Routray, Parimita
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2017-05-24
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e0178042
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5443550
- OpenAlex
- W2618303176
- Cited by
- 105
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 17.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- public-domain
- creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (vor)
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Studies and Social Issues
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics
- Keywords
- women's decision-making autonomy, household sanitation, latrine construction, gender and power, rural households, Odisha coast, Puri district, female-headed households, household financial decision-making
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Decision Making, Female, Humans, India, Male, Middle Aged, Rural Population, Sanitation, Toilet Facilities
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