A Case for Transgender Inclusive WASH Practices
While the gender-based lens has been a key theme of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector in South Asia, the transgender communities have been largely ignored by policymakers. Similarly, for a long time, the government of India never legally recognised ‘transgender’ as a legitimate category of gender identity and therefore never included them in any policy formulation. As a result of such exclusion, there has been a lack of safe toilet and water facilities for the community. This photo essay maps the current status of WASH practices among the transgender communities in Delhi and documents their everyday lived experiences. Keeping in mind the issues of safety and confidentiality, the names of all the respondents have been changed.
New Delhi
“Before the pandemic hit, I use to work at a beauty parlour, but then lost my job. Now, for last one year, I beg daily at the traffic lights in central Delhi to meet my daily expenses," bemoans Sunaina, a transgender woman who holds a degree from a reputed college in the capital.
Operating on this traffic light for nearly eight hours every day of the week, she complains about spending 130-150 rupees per day to get packaged drinking water during peak summer months.
"I walk a few meters to use the women’s toilet but wait around the corner for it to be empty,” replies Sunaina when asked about accessibility to the toilet and sanitation facility nearby.
As there are no separate Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities for transgender communities in the area, she is forced to use the women’s toilet where she has been subjected to mean remarks and verbal abuses many times.
Due to social and economical exclusion, people from transgender communities are forced into low-paid jobs, begging or commercial sex-work.
Ironically, Sunaina was one of the persons invited to inaugurate the only transgender exclusive toilet in the city a couple of months back. Hidden among the mammoth structures that house numerous offices of the central government, the toilet is located in the parking lot just outside the Press Club of India with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) office just a few steps away. However, according to the caretaker, the facility witnesses an average of only four to five visitors weekly, and therefore it remains locked most of the time. Such an instance reveals the hindrance faced by the transgender communities to access basic sanitation and hygiene facilities – which is further worsened by the stigma attached to their gender identity.
A dog lies sleeping outside the only transgender exclusive toilet located in the parking lot next to the Press Club of India, Windsor Place, New Delhi.
A painted wall at Lodhi Colony as a part of the Aravani Art Project, an artistic collective. The project seeks to create spaces where transgender communities can connect with other communities.
Gender equality and safe WASH facilities remain two of the most significant goals adopted by the United Nations member states in 2015 as a part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as emphasised by the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon are ‘based on a single, guiding principle: To leave no one behind. We will only realize this vision if we reach all people regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.’ As of result of this, the last six years have witnessed unprecedented ambitions of both the governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in India towards achieving these goals of equitable and safe WASH practices for all - with a specific focus on marginalised groups such as transgender communities.
The only transgender exclusive toilet in Delhi is mostly locked as it hardly sees any visitors due to its location.
However, what is surprising is the sheer lack of data when it comes to transgender population in India. The 2011 Census of India estimates the transgender population in Delhi to be around 4,213. This number is considered to be highly underestimated as many people are fearful to identify themselves as transgender due to stigmatisation and legal repercussions. Furthermore, there has been no strategy developed by the elected government to estimate the demography of the community in the last couple of years. This is after the Supreme Court thought its National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) judgment in 2014 legally recognised them as the third gender. Similarly, while the Transgender Persons Act, 2019 passed by the Government of India aims towards ending discrimination and stigma attached to the transgender community through welfare measures and inclusivity based programmes, the ground reality seems grimmer.
Thought the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) judgment in 2014, the Supreme Court of India legally recognised the members of the transgender community as a third gender.
“I have been begging every day at this traffic light for last eight years,” recalls Trisha sitting on the pavement of a busy intersection in west Delhi.
Hailing from West Bengal, she identifies as a hijra guru (head) who has few chelas (disciples) living under her care. The term hijra refers to a diverse community made up of transvestite men, intersex people, or transgender people who all adhere to a self-made model of kinship and social laws.
Travelling every day with her disciples using the metro or bus to this traffic light, she grumbles over the lack of toilet facilities in this busy area for them.
“I walk multiple times every day to the nearby metro station to use the toilets and sometimes openly defecate if there is such an emergency,”
she states while pointing towards the bushes present in the middle of the roads. On being enquired if she ever faced problems accessing the public toilets,
she replied “Personally I have not, however I know of many instances where my friends were sexually and physically harassed due to their gender identity.”
Lack of separate toilets for the members of the transgender communities puts them at the risk of sexual harassment and physical abuse everyday.
In its attempt to provide safe spaces and prohibit discrimination against the community, the Government of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi in February 2021 issued an order directing all officials to provide separate toilets for the transgender community within a period of two years. Additionally, it also stated that toilet facilities for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) can also be utilised by the transgender community until a separate facility is built for them – making all the toilets in public spaces and metro-stations which existed specifically for PWDs now being available for the transgender community as well. The Delhi Metro has also announced its plan to build separate toilet facilities at its upcoming stations
While this inventiveness has received accolades, many people from the community have also expressed disdain.
“The transgender community should not be appropriated as Divyanjans as such a step might be negatively interpreted by the common public – meaning transgender people might be viewed as individuals with some form of disabilities,” protests Sunaina.
Wary of such initiatives, she proclaims, “such steps are simply ways for the elected officials to dismiss their responsibilities to actually construct separate WASH facilities for our community.”
The toilets for PWDs across Delhi have now been made available for use to the transgender communities.
However, such distrust towards government officials and the society at large is rightly situated. Historically, the transgender communities have always been excluded from mainstream socio-political and economical discourse, and consequently pushed to the margins, leading to their exploitation. Furthermore, they have been wrongly perceived as aggressive and dangerous communities mostly involved in beggary, theft, and other anti-social activities. As a result of this, they have been harassed under a wide gamut of law by the authorities. Similarly, when using the men’s toilet, their presence is often interpreted as soliciting commercial sex work, and therefore subjected to sexual harassment and violence.
Part of the Aravani Art Project, these painted murals at Lodhi Colony signifies inclusivity and celebrates the diversity of identities among the transgender communities.
“The lack of safe and easily accessible water, toilets and other hygiene practices act as one of the major barriers towards the inclusion of the transgender communities as it disempowers them,” states Pankaj who is a member of the Community Empowerment Trust (CET), an NGO based in north Delhi working for the transgender communities. He explains that the lack of safe toilets entails abuse and harassment which forces many transgender children to leave schools at an incredibly young age. Most of these children do not find any substantive support from their families too, leading to severe mental stress. Subsequently, they move out of their homes to join other transgender groups mainly in bigger cities and have to resort to low-paid unskilled labour, begging or sex work to make their ends meet. The absence of such a basic need, that is a toilet, in this way impedes both the educational and socio-economical prospects of the transgender communities.
Gender-neutral toilet stall at a shopping mall in South Delhi.
Responding to growing demands for gender-responsive infrastructure, many public spaces such as shopping malls in Delhi have re-designed existing structures to create gender-neutral WASH facilities. Such facilities can be accessed by anyone irrespective of their gender identity.
“The emergence of gender-neutral toilets in public spaces such as malls is significantly important as it allows transgender people to access toilets without any dilemma or stress,” claims Sakshi, a transwoman with disabilities. However, she is aware of how exclusive such spaces can be, adding that “most of these places such as malls or restaurants are not accessible to larger transgender communities due to socio-economic and cultural barriers.”
From the acute shortage of WASH facilities and infrastructural inadequacies to discrimination and stigma attached to their gender identities, transgender people have been pushed to the margins of society, leading to an unending circle of social-economic exclusion. Therefore, when designing transgender-inclusive WASH facilities, it is important to consider not only the basic requirements but also issues of inclusion, rights, and dignity. Recognizing the diversity of their identities and experiences, as well as the subsequent WASH requirements, is an essential part of engaging with the community. Correspondingly, these requirements must be contextualised within the larger discussion about the provision of legal recognition and rights that affirm gender equity.
About Yamin Chowdhary
Yamin Chowdhary (he/him) is an independent researcher and photographer currently based in Delhi. Having received his Master’s degree in Sexual Dissidence from the University of Sussex, his research focuses on intersection between gender-sexual identities and social development. Through this photo-essay, he aims to examine various gender biases that operate in everyday public life and work towards structural transformations that will impact the lived reality of transgender communities. He believes that community-led initiatives are one of the most significant ways to catalyse empowerment amongst the marginalised groups.
This story was produced as part of Water Seeker Fellowship 2021, a collaborative inititative of Living Waters Museum and Social and Political Research Foundation.
