I want to tell you about a recent article in the New York Times that really struck me. Apparently--and probably not surprisingly--there are more people in India than there are toilets. According to this article, in Mumbai alone there are 5,993 public toilets (with an additional 2,468 urinals) for men and only 3,536 for women. In these public toilets--which are filthy beyond belief--a male attendant collects anywhere from 2 to 5 rupees from customers in need of said facilities. The hitch though is that while men need to pay for the privilege of using a proper toilet, they can use the urinals at no charge. The same is obviously not true for women. Every time a woman needs to urinate, she must pay for the dubious privilege.

While it may not seem like a big deal for many of you reading this in the West, when you consider the fact that many of the poorest people in India survive on as little as 29 rupees a day, 2 to 5 rupees paid out every time one needs to take care of one's natural functions really adds up. The article goes on to say that although women in Mumbai comprise half the city's workforce, many of these women do not have access to a toilet in their workplace. Thus, they are forced to use these public toilets and are getting ripped off in the process.

According to a recent article from the BBC, 35 non-government NGOs have organized around a campaign called--quite appropriately--the Right to Pee that in Mumbai alone has already collected 50,000 signatures by activists who have gone door-to-door as part of a movement to raise awareness about this ludicrous double standard. But more than this, the Right to Pee organization is charged with bringing attention to the need for improved sanitation, more and cleaner toilets, and the hiring of female attendants to look after the women's bathrooms. Mumbai city officials met with a select group of campaigners last week to discuss plans to build hundreds of new public toilets specifically for women all across the city. Whether this initiative reaches any sort of fruition in India's notoriously corrupt public sector remains to be seen. It is, however, a step (however small) in the right direction.

By signing this petition, you are helping to raise awareness of this devastating issue. Once we have collected at least 10,000 signatures, I will be contacting Mr. Jairam Ramesh, the recently elected Minister of Sanitation, to demonstrate that the international public is united in its demand that free and ready access to sanitary and safe public toilets be granted to ALL of India's citizens, regardless of gender and socioeconomic status.