Sanitation work: Realizing equity and inclusion in WASH

Abstract

Recognition of the human right to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and equity and inclusion concerns around gender, disability and age have led to crucial change in WASH programmes and policy, responding to commonly hidden issues such as menstrual hygiene, inclusive facilities for people with disabilities, and affordable services for residents of informal settlements. Despite progress toward realizing the rights of end users “to” sanitation, this crucial body of work has overlooked the rights of an unseen, diverse population working “in” these services, including those who handle human waste. There are increasing calls within and beyond WASH for sanitation workers - marginalized by their informal and hazardous roles, and intersections of caste, religion and gender - to realize their rights to safe working conditions and social security. Yet, sanitation work has received little attention from equity and inclusion WASH scholars, despite the pressing need to challenge dominant technical, health-centric framings of sanitation that can overlook workers' lived realities. We argue for an intersectional, interdisciplinary approach to support sanitation workers to realize rights to fair living and working conditions, including inclusive WASH infrastructure at work. We draw on the limited literature available to highlight gaps in, and show the importance of the sub-sector of equity and inclusion to engage further with the lived realities of sanitation workers. Increased collaboration between sanitation workers, activists, and allies working on inclusion, labor rights, fecal sludge and solid waste management is paramount to realize sanitation workers' rights and to truly provide “inclusive” sanitation for all by 2030.

Neglected second and third generation challenges of urban sanitation: A review of the marginality and exclusion dimensions of safely managed sanitation

“…Moreover, sanitation workers typically belong to marginalized, low-income, class, caste backgrounds or religious minorities [116], and often remain an invisible and unrecognised labour force working in unsafe environments and facing high levels of stigmatisation [107,113,[116][117][118]. The case in South Asia is of particular concern, where the continuing practice of manual scavenging is implicated in social stratification based on caste hierarchies and oppressions [119,120].…”

“…Although major challenges associated with occupational and environmental hazards, weak legal protections, financial insecurity and discrimination exist [130], there is limited information about the challenges faced by informal sanitation workers in terms of their health, safety and dignity in low-and middle-income countries [126,131,132], and their concerns are often excluded from discussions around sanitation inclusion. Critically, while the literature has considered issues relating to occupational health and safety [132][133][134][135], Bhakta et al (2022) argue that it continues to overlook the diverse lived experiences and priorities of sanitation workers with some exceptions, e.g. [126] that warrant greater attention.…”