People engaged in marginalised and often hazardous labour are critical to ensuring cities function. Infrastructure in cities such as toilets, sewers and septic tanks are maintained by workers who are largely hidden. Sanitation workers in countries such as India, Nepal, Pakistan, and other parts of South Asia are marginalised because of their caste, religion, and the nature of the work that they do, often involving the handling of human faecal waste. As a result, this hidden workforce faces a range of challenges. At work, this includes access to fair wages, health risks, a lack of personal protective equipment, abuse from members of the public and their managers, and access to amenities such as toilets. Beyond work, sanitation workers rarely have access to adequate and safe housing, facing poor living conditions without access to WASH, and have challenges in accessing education for their children.
Some work I have completed relating to this theme includes: