PEES AND Q’N’ASActivists demand that women use public toilets for free.
A campaign has been launched in Mumbai to demand better toilet facilities for women.
Activists are angered that women have to pay to use public toilets, whereas men can use them for free.
35 non-government organisations (NGOs) are leading the campaign and they urge women in Mumbai’s government to make sure that women are able to use the service without paying.
Rahul Gaekward, who heads one of the 35 NGOs in the campaign, told reporters that women “should be allowed to pee for free” and that “the public toilets should provide vending machines with sanitary towels, like men have for condoms, and they should have a changing room in the toilets,” he said.
The campaign, which is drawing strong support from both men and women, has collected 7,000 signatures in the Kurla area.
Campaigners surveyed 129 public toilets last year and found the women’s services were excessively inadequate.
A campaign was launched last year, but drew no responses.
A census in March this year showed that half ofIndia’s homes do not have any toilet facilities.
