Men don’t pay for loo, why should women?

It was the first working day after my resolution of having at least two litres of water daily. I started with two glasses of water, first thing in the morning, with the fear of unclean washrooms nagging me, like it does many working women, and college-going girls.
No one wants to use unhygienic washrooms, but we are forced to.

Consequences are dreaded and expected. A 2010 study conducted for Observer Research Foundation by the KEM hospital’s Preventive and Social Medicine department proves our fears are not unfounded.

The study reveals women commuters in city are more prone to urinary tract infections due to the unhygienic toilets in suburban railway stations. For every man suffering from urinary tract infection, there were six women suffering from the same. And it is the fear of holding the bladder for hours or being forced to use unhygienic toilets that women like me do not drink any water before taking that one-and-half-hour train ride to offices.

Since it is my resolution, I decided to take the risk. Half way through my journey, I felt the need to find a clean toilet. I got off the train at Matunga station, walked a little to find a public toilet at the CST-end of the platform number 1. At first, I felt like giving it a miss as it stank like hell and looked deserted. But to my surprise, it was quite clean. And unlike our male counterparts, who get to use the urinals for free, I had to pay Rs2. Small price for a clean toilet?

Yes, but why can’t we have if for free?

I have had water during my visits to hospitals, which is my beat, but didn’t have to rush to a washroom. So, I shall update you about conditions of washrooms in city’s premier hospitals in the coming blogs. Let’s help each other by sharing information on clean, safe washrooms that can be used by us.

I will keep you posted on my journey through my blog at dnaindia/blog/somitapal.

Join this journey and together let’s force the civic body to rethink about what they can offer. After all, we are the better halves.