Gendered Challenges of the Public Toilet Crisis in Dhaka: Excluding Women from Participation in Urban Public Life

Abstract

Public toilets are essential components of an urban infrastructure, ensuring human well-being and privacy in civilised communities. However, cities like Dhaka face significant challenges in providing safe and hygienic public toilets. This scarcity disproportionately affects various segments of the population, with women bearing a greater burden in this regard compared to men, due to the gender-specific nature of this issue. Accessible public toilets not only safeguard women's privacy and hygiene but also promote their access to and mobility within public areas. This study investigates how Dhaka's public toilet crisis influences women's choice and selection of public spaces thus limiting their active participation in city life. The study explores the public toilet crisis through a gender lens, aiming to comprehend the experience of various intersections of women in public life in comparison to that of men. It draws evidence from existing literature, newspaper articles, web data, and informal surveys to understand how gender specific barriers to accessing existing public toilets in Dhaka discourage women’s engagement in public spaces. The findings of the study illustrate how the absence of clean and accessible public toilets systematically marginalise various intersections of women, limiting their participation in public life eventually resulting in exclusion of women from city spaces. In conclusion the aim of the study is to recognise the public toilet crisis as a gender issue from a broader socio-political context and advocate for women's active participation in urban life through prioritising women’s sanitation needs in planning and architectural design of public spaces.