Addressing Women’s Sanitation-related Safety Concerns in Slums of Maharashtra, India

Through this paper we explore women’s vulnerability during sanitation activities and the impact that household toilets have on women’s safety-related concerns. This study covers 4 cities in the state of Maharashtra– Pune, Pimpri- Chinchwad, Thane, and Kolhapur - where Shelter Associates has provided many slum households with toilets under its One Home One Toilet (OHOT) programme. A good part of the programme’s intention is to offer women an alternative to using their existing, inadequate public sanitation facilities, a problem that was highlighted during discussions with slum women themselves. Shelter Associates is a Maharashtra-based NGO established in 1993 that provides low cost sanitation and housing to slum residents.