Women and Men Have Different Needs 109
Planning toilets with women’s needs in mind
Leaving women out of sanitation planning puts them at a greater risk for
health problems because it is less likely that their needs will be met. Men
must also keep women’s needs in mind when changes are made in community
sanitation if they are to improve health for everyone.
To make it easier for women to participate in community sanitation
planning in a way that does not simply give them more work to do:
• Organize meetings at times when women can participate.
• Make sure that women are invited and feel comfortable speaking out.
• Have separate meetings for women if they
make it easier for women to speak up.
• Share decision making power.
Women usually teach and care for
children. When women’s needs are
not met, the needs of children may be
unmet as well. When women are not
included in planning household and
community sanitation, the whole
community suffers.
If you teach a man, you teach
one person. If you teach a woman,
you teach a whole nation.
—African proverb
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012