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Bettesworth Construction
bathing spaces

Why Villages Need Private Bathing Spaces for Women, Not Just Toilets

Village sanitation plans should include private bathing and washing spaces for women and girls, with reliable water, accessible design, and long-term maintenance.

By Bettesworth Construction Team 4 min read
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Toilets address defecation; they do not give women and girls a private place to bathe or change. Village WASH planning should treat private bathing and washing space as part of sanitation and dignity, alongside toilets—with reliable water, accessible design, and a clear plan for upkeep.

Why toilets alone do not meet every need

A household toilet and a private washing space serve different purposes. Women and adolescent girls may still have to bathe or change in an open or shared setting even when a toilet is available. WHO and UNICEF identify women and adolescent girls in the poorest households, as well as people with disabilities, among those most likely to lack a private place to wash and change. Their 2023 global analysis treats that need separately from private sanitation access.

Shared sanitation is not the same as private household access. WHO and UNICEF note that sharing facilities can compromise women’s and girls’ privacy, dignity, and safety. A village plan that counts toilets but does not ask where people bathe and change can therefore miss an important part of everyday WASH access.

What the evidence says—and where it applies

Global context

WHO and UNICEF’s 2023 reporting on household WASH through 2022 describes a wider infrastructure challenge: globally, 1.8 billion people lived in households without a water supply on the premises, and women and girls aged 15 and older were primarily responsible for water collection in 7 out of 10 households without on-premises water. These are global figures, not estimates for villages in any one country.

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Accounts from India

An India-focused consultation report records women and adolescent girls describing privacy concerns around outdoor defecation and risks associated with bathing in open ponds and rivers. One participant, Mandakini Bhoi, a 16-year-old student from Angul, Odisha, described going with others to a distant pond to bathe and wash clothes, with some keeping watch while another bathed. These accounts illustrate the kinds of constraints people can face; they are qualitative consultation evidence from specific settings, not a current or nationally representative prevalence estimate.

The India programme context is also specific. UNICEF describes Swachh Bharat Mission as launched in 2014; Phase I ended in 2019 with villages, states, and union territories declaring themselves open-defecation free. That declaration context does not establish that every facility remained functional or that all sanitation and washing needs were met. Phase II emphasized community sanitary complexes and solid and liquid waste management in pursuit of ODF Plus villages.

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Choose facilities around actual use

There is no universally established best model in the cited evidence: a private bathing space might be provided at household level or through a community facility, depending on local constraints. In India, UNICEF’s October 2022 assessment of community sanitary complexes under Swachh Bharat Mission–Grameen Phase II describes their relevance where households lack individual latrines because of constraints such as space, or where floating populations and crowds create demand. The assessment examines functionality, design, accessibility, operations and management, usage, and satisfaction—useful dimensions for planning any facility intended to serve people over time.

Planning question What to establish
Privacy Can a person bathe and change without being seen or interrupted? Is the facility arranged and located to protect privacy?
Water Is water reliably available where and when the space is used? A bathing enclosure without a workable water supply does not provide a complete service.
Accessibility Can women and girls, older people, and people with disabilities reach and use the space? Consider the route as well as the interior.
Safety and usability Is the location acceptable to intended users, and can people use the space affordably and comfortably?
Ongoing operation Who cleans the facility, handles repairs, and manages day-to-day operation? What happens when water, doors, lighting, or other components fail?
Participation and feedback Were intended users involved in choosing the location and design, and can they report problems and influence improvements?

These questions should shape decisions before construction, not be treated as a final inspection checklist alone. UNICEF India describes community participation and gender mainstreaming as elements of its WASH work; WHO and UNICEF also identify gaps in commonly agreed indicators for monitoring gender in WASH. Local monitoring should therefore record whether facilities are usable, accessible, private, and maintained—not only whether they were built.

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Connect bathing provision to water and menstrual hygiene carefully

Water and sanitation infrastructure can support menstrual hygiene, but the evidence does not show that a bathing cubicle by itself produces a particular health outcome. A study of a combined household piped-water and sanitation intervention in rural Odisha found that women in intervention villages were more likely than women in control villages to report adequate menstrual hygiene practices. The study found no evidence of an intervention effect on self-reported urogenital infection symptoms. Because the intervention combined water and sanitation, its reported change cannot be attributed to a bathing room alone, and it does not establish that such facilities prevent infection.

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Make bathing space part of the village WASH brief

For village authorities, planners, and construction teams, the practical shift is to define the service before specifying the structure. Include private bathing and washing in needs assessments; ask women and girls about privacy, location, and daily use; assess water access and accessibility; and assign responsibility for cleaning, repairs, and oversight. Then monitor whether the facility continues to work for its intended users.

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A toilet remains essential, but it is not a substitute for a private place to bathe and change. Planning for both makes village sanitation more responsive to privacy, dignity, and safety without assuming that construction alone can resolve every underlying risk.

UNICEF India: Assessment of functionality of community sanitary complexes under Swachh Bharat Mission–Gramin Phase II

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WHO and UNICEF: Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000–2022: special focus on gender

WHO/UNICEF joint release on global WASH and gender, 6 July 2023

Government of India-hosted consultation report on sanitation and safety of women and girls

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