What About Us? A Guide to Trans-Inclusive Sanitation

This knowledge brief by CREA explores the exclusion of transgender and gender-nonconforming people from India’s sanitation systems. It examines legal and policy gaps, everyday discrimination, and structural barriers, while proposing practical solutions such as gender-neutral restrooms, inclusive design, sensitisation, and community participation to ensure dignity, equality, and accessibility in sanitation for all.

What you’ll find in this brief

  • Analysis of how binary sanitation infrastructure leads to harassment and exclusion of transgender and gender-diverse persons
  • Review of policy frameworks such as the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act (2019) and Swachh Bharat Mission, highlighting weak implementation and lack of inclusive design guidelines
  • Findings that only 9.5% of organisations in India demonstrate LGBTQ+ inclusion in workplace policies
  • Evidence of discrimination extending beyond sanitation to education, healthcare, and employment sectors
  • Recommendations for gender-neutral toilets, awareness programmes, and inclusion of transgender voices in sanitation policymaking

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