Water And Gender Equality In India: Constitutional Imperatives, Judicial Discourse, And The Struggle For Dignity In Access To Water And Sanitation
Prof. (Dr.) B Vijayalaxmi, Professor, Department of Law, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
ABSTRACT
Access to safe water and sanitation is not a privilege of civic convenience— it is a prerequisite of human dignity and a condition for substantive gender equality. In India, the burden of water insecurity falls disproportionately on women, intersecting with caste, poverty, geography, and social marginalisation to produce acute and enduring deprivation. This article undertakes a doctrinal and analytical examination of the constitutional, judicial, statutory, and international legal frameworks governing access to water and sanitation, with particular attention to the gendered dimensions of that access. Drawing on the expansive interpretation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, relevant judicial precedents, and authoritative policy documents, the article argues that the right to water—specifically as it relates to menstrual hygiene, privacy, bodily integrity, and safety—is an inalienable facet of the right to life with dignity. The article further examines structural and institutional failures that impede realisation of this right and offers recommendations for transformative, gender-sensitive governance. It contends that the gap between constitutional promise and empirical reality demands not merely doctrinal elaboration but urgent institutional reform of a systemic character.
Keywords: Water rights; Article 21; gender equality; menstrual hygiene management; sanitation; Swachh Bharat Mission; Jal Jeevan Mission; CEDAW; SDG 6; intersectionality.
