Toilets Before Marriage

An article I discovered online, posted by the Washington Post, caught my attention rather quickly. In Nilokheri, India women are refusing to marry unless their husband-to-be has furnished their soon to be home with a bathroom. This way, women are free of embarrassment. They would otherwise have to squat in fields or any other place they could find outside, and if they are lucky,community toilets. It is known that about 665 million people in India, which happens to be just around half of the population, do not have access to toilets. A campaign that started to get more toilets installed called "No Toilet, No Bride" has been very successful. The campaign, which started about two tears ago, has helped more than 1.4 million toilets be built in northern state of Haryana. Some of them built with government funds, according to the state's health department. Women's rights activists call the campaign a revolution as it spreads across the country in hundreds on rural towns.

Indian girls are traditionally seen as a financial liabilities because of the wedding dowries, which is often times one's life's savings of their fathers. The money, property, land or goods are often given to the groom's family. But that is slowly changing as women marry later and grow more financially self-reliant. More rural girls are enrolled in school than ever before.

Men in the villages and towns are taking the women seriously. They know that they will never find a bride if they do not make something of themselves in order to afford a toilet. India;s rapid urbanization has encourages many of these thoughts and actions.