Women and young girls in informal urban spaces are deeply impacted by bad sanitation, especially during menstruation, with long-term developmental consequences. The Swachh Bharat Mission Urban, India aims to build toilets and improve city sanitation infrastructure to better the availability, access, and everydayness of sanitation experiences for the poor people. Access to sanitation for women is subject to an intersectionalityofvarious socialinequalitiesproductiveofwomen’s‘un-agency’as much as ‘good’sanitationpractice. This research is aimed at feminising the sanitation discourse by building knowledge around and mapping women and young girls’ perspectives, and their socio-cultural subjectivity. The research was conducted across 10 low-income/slum settlements in diversegeographies of Delhi, and with 201 women and young girls and 48 boys and men. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research method was used that emphasised participation. Participatory Learning and Action tools were feminised and used in combination with semiotic storytelling and questionnaire surveys to gather primary data. Proxy indicators were used to understand the embedded socialization around sanitation practice. The study findings were segmented into four parts –Shauchalaya (toilets), Sharam (shame), Samajikaran (socialization) and Swabhiman (dignity). Looking at sanitation from thesefour aspects is an attempt to create the connections between the shared toilet with feelings of shame and one’s own socialization process.
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