Sanitation and Inequalities Revealed

As urbanisation continues, so too are inequalities. At the same time of seeing the new intensification of urbanisation, we are also observing the new waves of the urban political (MaFarlane and Silver, 2016). When writing down this blog, I was reminded of my first blog talking about the 'real Africa' under the influence of Wainaina (2016) and the responsibility of writing. I came across several articles talking about the experiences of sanitation problems and inequalities they faced this week, and as a women by myself, I need to remind myself again in immersing myself in the middle of the settings proposed by the scholar, understanding the traditional customs of the country instead of interpreting scholar's words by using my own experiences and perspectives as a woman. 

This week, I was surprised by how people have different interpretations and feelings to sanitation. By drawing on two examples from the poolitical protests in Cape Town and the social inequalities faced by women in Nairobi, I would like to talk more about the relations between the syndrome and different identities.

Fig.1: Sanitation in the Cape Town

Sanitation in the Cape Town now has been the latest emphasis of the politization of the town with a number of roughly 500,000 out of 3.74 million residents having to access to adequate services (Mels et al., 2009). However, as McFarlane and Silver (2016), and Swanson (1977) have argued, the sanitation problems in Cape Town exist not only because of the delivery problem, but also the combination of questions of sociopolitical syndrome such as social segregation, gender, and ethnicity and so on. Moreover, the historical legacies of colonialism also left the Cape Town a more complexed urban fabric (Fanon, 1967). The most impressive part in the article The Poolitical City: "Seeing Sanitation" and Making the Urban Political in Cape Town is when authors talked about the use of shit, and the transfer in space from the peripheries of the city that belongs to the poor to the city centre that belongs to the elite as well as the lapses in time contributed to the poolitical protest (MaFarlane and Silver, 2016). With the two things (shit and hyper-sanitised city centre) that nearly have no connections at all appear together, 'matter out of place' is noted by Mary Douglas (2003) to invert the notion that shit belongs to the poor that are almost invisible to the city as well as the sanitation problems that they have met in their districts in the same city (MaFarlane and Silver, 2016).

Fig.2: Sanitation for women and girls matters

Another example comes from Nairobi which I could have more similar feelings as a woman compared to the first case study in the Cape Town. Women living in the informal settlements in Nairobi are especially vulnerable to the impacts brought about by the poor sanitation situations in the city, not only different physical needs compared to men in terms of going to the toilet, but also greater needs of privacy, greater protection against insecurity and more effective policing (Amnesty International Report, 2010).

However, most women in Nairobi would have to walk at least 300 metres from home to the nearest latrine, with the risk of being attacked, especially rape at night; showering is also inconvenient from time to time as they have the face the reality that they have to take the shower with other adults and kids at the house (Amnesty International Report, 2010).

In these two scenarios, the problem is not only about service delivery, but also reflects the wider social inequalities engaged with gender, class and ethnicity. In the Cape Town case, it is necessary for the government to listen to voices of people from different class and conduct toilet construction following a down-to-the-top approach in order to cater for the needs of its people. However, there might be constraints on what the government could achieve considering the fact that there is no electoral pressures or motivations in building more toilets for the poor. In the case of Nairobi, the Kenyan government have the responsibility to have more protection regulations regarding people living in informal settlements and make the toilet not a place for women being attacked anymore.