Cool Socioeconomic hack for the day: "No toilet, no bride" in India(washingtonpost.com)
washingtonpost.com
Cool Socioeconomic hack for the day: "No toilet, no bride" in India
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR2009101101934.html?wprss=rss_world
9 comments
This article is almost entirely fluff. It says that 1.4 million new toilets have been made in the last two years. Is that an increase over the previous two years? They quote a couple of Indian women who are on board with the message. Do they represent the majority of Indian women? 90%? 10%? 1%? They mention 'some' government funding. How much?
Why would a laudable social initiative like this be titled as "hack" in HN submission. I don't mean that "hack" here has a negative connotation, but the title here stretches the definition of "hack" too far.
I can think of two reasons to call it a hack.
1) Its an unexpected and clever way to get a toilet. You can think of it as hacking the culture (where marriage is highly valued) or the men (who really want to get married).
2) The OP wanted to post this here and wondered how to make it look like "HN material." (If I'm wrong, please let me know, just what popped to mind).
1) Its an unexpected and clever way to get a toilet. You can think of it as hacking the culture (where marriage is highly valued) or the men (who really want to get married).
2) The OP wanted to post this here and wondered how to make it look like "HN material." (If I'm wrong, please let me know, just what popped to mind).
Look at meaning #7 in the hacker dictionary
I think a creative way to kill two very different birds -- the status of women, and the state of hygiene -- qualifies.
Hacker: One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of
creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
I think a creative way to kill two very different birds -- the status of women, and the state of hygiene -- qualifies.
As the article mentions "No Toilet, No Bride" was a campaign with some funds from government that was used to increase awareness of sanitation in rural India. The innovative thing about this program was linking needs
to improve awareness about hygiene.
Many of the social initiatives/programs launched in India target basic needs to improve awareness. A few I can think of at the moment are :
a. Midday meal to children attending schools (feed the hungry, provide education)
b. National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (provide employment and let the people do something helpful (building roads, canals etc) for the village/community)
I am no expert in this area and it seems to me that many of social schemes/programs have this mix of targeting the needs to spread awareness.
Would then all these social schemes be qualified as "hack" ?
Many of the social initiatives/programs launched in India target basic needs to improve awareness. A few I can think of at the moment are :
a. Midday meal to children attending schools (feed the hungry, provide education)
b. National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (provide employment and let the people do something helpful (building roads, canals etc) for the village/community)
I am no expert in this area and it seems to me that many of social schemes/programs have this mix of targeting the needs to spread awareness.
Would then all these social schemes be qualified as "hack" ?
A couple months ago, Merlin Mann (an American blogger) apologized for largely starting the trend of calling damn near everything a "hack" by heavily overusing it on 43folders.
It's a nice idea, but I am missing the information on what made it happen? Somehow all the women united to claim their rights to a toilet? But why? How where they informed, how did they agree? It's not like they synced via Twitter, did they?
Or was there no hack involved at all, and it is simple economics instead? As the article said, women are becoming more economically independent, and they are rare, so they can make demands. Naturally, a toilet is the first thing that comes to mind.
Or was there no hack involved at all, and it is simple economics instead? As the article said, women are becoming more economically independent, and they are rare, so they can make demands. Naturally, a toilet is the first thing that comes to mind.
There must have been an NGO or a women's self help group involved. That is the way things usually get done here.
Just like Harvest Moon! You have to get the house upgrade before you can marry...
> About 665 million people in India -- about half the population -- lack access to latrines.
I stay in India, but I didn't know it is this severe :-(
I stay in India, but I didn't know it is this severe :-(
It's nice that more Indian homes will be getting toilets, but it's weird that Indian women had to basically stop putting out to get it done.
A friend of mine did this. She was a neo-hippie "earth mother" type. (Also, a spoiled upper-middle class girl from Connecticut.) Her prospective groom was a resident of the pacific island of Yap. Her demand: A western style toilet, or I won't marry you! He rented a backhoe and laid the pipes of the septic system himself.
(Unfortunately, I don't think they are still together.)
(When I see the headline, Bob Marley sings in my head. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Woman,_No_Cry)
(Unfortunately, I don't think they are still together.)
(When I see the headline, Bob Marley sings in my head. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Woman,_No_Cry)
Not a hack but a necessity imo. I've heard horror stories. Next time you walk around inIndia make sure the vindaloo you stepped on is really vindaloo.
Translation: People in the US should pat themselves on the back and feel enlightened because they have a toilet and modern sanitation. Not only is having a toilet a convenience, but a statement of equality and fairness.
Articles like these help Americans feel that the US has a moral high ground, which helps sell wars.
Articles like these help Americans feel that the US has a moral high ground, which helps sell wars.
How in the world did you get that from the article?
I'm really chuffed about these kind of "hacks". There are a lot of initiatives in India to try and improve the lives of the rural community and it is really great.
India cannot progress by leaving the villages behind.
I'm really chuffed about these kind of "hacks". There are a lot of initiatives in India to try and improve the lives of the rural community and it is really great.
India cannot progress by leaving the villages behind.
Well, you must think either
a) traditional methods of sanitation offer no benefits and only fools would choose not to allocate resources to a western toilet
or
b) that it is the responsibility of those in the US to be entertained by stories of third world men having to be forced to buy their women toilets.
It's a small leap from men who have to be coerced to buy toilets to men who have to be coerced (via bombs) to not be terrorists, etc. The basic dehumanization of the message is also a key bit of emotional distancing that must be done before the American people can sit by while thousands of third world people are killed by American bombs for no good reason.
a) traditional methods of sanitation offer no benefits and only fools would choose not to allocate resources to a western toilet
or
b) that it is the responsibility of those in the US to be entertained by stories of third world men having to be forced to buy their women toilets.
It's a small leap from men who have to be coerced to buy toilets to men who have to be coerced (via bombs) to not be terrorists, etc. The basic dehumanization of the message is also a key bit of emotional distancing that must be done before the American people can sit by while thousands of third world people are killed by American bombs for no good reason.
traditional methods of sanitation offer no benefits and only fools would choose not to allocate resources to a western toilet
You sketch a false dichotomy: the choice isn't either 'they are fools' or 'traditional means of sanitation are just fine'. The traditional means of sanitation are emphatically not fine. I don't just think that, I know that is true. Half of our increased life expectancy comes from better hygiene and sanitation. Have you ever been to India? Let me tell you, it literally stinks there. However, not investing in western sanitation doesn't make them fools, because proper sanitation is really costly and the perceived benefits are small. It's entirely understandable they'd rather spend the money another way.
How you can turn this into some cultural superiority issue is beyond me. You know, India really is behind the West in terms of things like prosperity and life expectancy. That has nothing to do with making you feel good: it's a plain fact.
You sketch a false dichotomy: the choice isn't either 'they are fools' or 'traditional means of sanitation are just fine'. The traditional means of sanitation are emphatically not fine. I don't just think that, I know that is true. Half of our increased life expectancy comes from better hygiene and sanitation. Have you ever been to India? Let me tell you, it literally stinks there. However, not investing in western sanitation doesn't make them fools, because proper sanitation is really costly and the perceived benefits are small. It's entirely understandable they'd rather spend the money another way.
How you can turn this into some cultural superiority issue is beyond me. You know, India really is behind the West in terms of things like prosperity and life expectancy. That has nothing to do with making you feel good: it's a plain fact.
Sanitation is important. I am happy that there are a variety of different efforts in India to increase awareness of germs and sanitation issues...
But an article about free hand sanitizer being given away at the grocery store (for example) is far less entertaining to Americans (who have a taste for stories about their cultural supremacy) than a story about men having their marriage proposals shot down unless they agree to purchase a toilet.
The story humiliates and emasculates Indian males, and puts the blame for a big public health problem on men, as if they need to be coerced to buy a toilet ... which in India is still more of a luxury good than a sanitation necessity.
Imagine a story about American men being denied marriage unless they purchased a car with front and side airbags, anti-lock brakes, and traction control, the cheapest of which costs $19K. Then the judgmental but bemused tone sounds a bit more annoying to those who don't sense it when it's about brown people... and coincidentally brown people are the ones we drop bombs on.
But an article about free hand sanitizer being given away at the grocery store (for example) is far less entertaining to Americans (who have a taste for stories about their cultural supremacy) than a story about men having their marriage proposals shot down unless they agree to purchase a toilet.
The story humiliates and emasculates Indian males, and puts the blame for a big public health problem on men, as if they need to be coerced to buy a toilet ... which in India is still more of a luxury good than a sanitation necessity.
Imagine a story about American men being denied marriage unless they purchased a car with front and side airbags, anti-lock brakes, and traction control, the cheapest of which costs $19K. Then the judgmental but bemused tone sounds a bit more annoying to those who don't sense it when it's about brown people... and coincidentally brown people are the ones we drop bombs on.
I agree that's one perfectly valid way to interpret it, and I can see how articles like this can have that effect. It does seem like the author had something else in mind, though.
Perhaps, but I think it's important to be aware of the steady stream of "ok America pat yourself on the back again" articles that run every day. They are ridiculous.
edit: and most involve quaint stories about the third world like this one, often pertaining to women's rights.
edit: and most involve quaint stories about the third world like this one, often pertaining to women's rights.