Research Findings

My research revealed what women have always carried silently: that toileting is not just a bodily function, it is a profound negotiation of privacy, shame, and safety. Ethiopian women spoke of the missing door that strips away dignity, of the bush that offers both seclusion and exposure, of school toilets that become danger zones rather than sanctuaries. In their stories, the body is always centered yet rarely respected, forced to shrink, to wait, to endure.

From these lived experiences emerged new theories: Toilet Socialization, Generational Omission, Cumulative Invisibility, Ordinary Embodiment, and Deferred Dignity; concepts that name what has too long been unnamed. Together they form the Feminist Sanitation Justice framework, a call to recognize toilets and water access not as infrastructure alone but as feminist, political, and deeply human rights issues.

Water is not optional. 

Privacy is not optional. 

Safety is not optional. 

Dignity is not optional.