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{{Short description|Public health campaign in Haryana, India}}
[[File:No Toilet No Bride results.webp|thumb|Change in latrine ownership among marriage-age men in Haryana was substantially greater in areas with fewer marriage-aged women]]
'''No Toilet, No Bride''' is a public health campaign launched in 2005 by the state authorities in [[Haryana]], India. The initiative encouraged young women to refuse to marry men unless their homes had [[latrine]]s. The campaign sought to combat fecal pollution and disease caused by [[open defecation]], which was practiced by roughly 70% of rural households in Haryana at the time of the campaign's launch. It also aimed to combat harassment and staring from men directed at women while defecating, urinating, and attending to menstrual hygiene in the open.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hanemann |first=W. Michael |title=Global problems, smart solutions: costs and benefits |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-03959-9 |editor-last=Lomborg |editor-first=Bjørn |location=Cambridge |chapter=Water and Sanitation: Alternative perspective 10.1}}</ref> As a result of the harassment, women defecated openly only at night, thus leading to "numerous cases of [[sexual assault]]" in rural Haryana communities.<ref>{{Cite news |last=A |first=Divya |date=2009-03-22 |title=It's no toilet, no bride in Haryana |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/its-no-toilet-no-bride-in-haryana/articleshow/4298352.cms |access-date=2025-10-01 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Shah Singh |first=Harmeet |date=28 October 2009 |title=In India's villages: No toilet, no bride - CNN.com |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/28/intl.india.toilet.bride/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029064006/http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/28/intl.india.toilet.bride/index.html |archive-date=2009-10-29 |access-date=2025-10-01 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

Given that private latrines were particularly valued by women, the campaigners took advantage of [[Arranged marriage in the Indian subcontinent|marriage arrangement]] as a moment of singular social power for women in Haryana.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Stopnitzky |first=Yaniv |date=2012 |title=The Bargaining Power of Missing Women: Evidence from a Sanitation Campaign in India |url=http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2031273 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2031273 |issn=1556-5068}}</ref> State authorities placed billboards, posters, and radio advertisements promoting slogans such as "No Toilet, No Bride" and "No Loo, No 'I Do{{Single+double}} to encourage women and their families to demand the construction of a latrine at the [[Patrilocal residence|patrilocal home]] as a precondition for marriage.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Stopnitzky |first=Yaniv |date=2017-07-01 |title=No toilet no bride? Intrahousehold bargaining in male-skewed marriage markets in India |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387817300342 |journal=Journal of Development Economics |volume=127 |pages=269–282 |doi=10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.04.003 |issn=0304-3878|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Village walls were also painted with the phrase "I won't allow my daughter to marry into a home without toilets" in [[Hindi]].<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wax |first=Emily |date=2009-10-12 |title=In India, More Women Demand Toilets Before Marriage |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR2009101101934.html |access-date=2025-10-01 |work=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

In 2011, ''[[The Deccan Herald]]'' reported that bridal families in [[Delhi]] had begun asking whether the groom's family has a latrine before proceeding with negotiations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 March 2011 |title=Toilets for women can change their lives and of the country |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/146673/toilets-women-can-change-their.html |access-date=2025-10-01 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref> A 2012 study found that the campaign led to a 15% increase in male investment in sanitation in Haryana, with a much larger effect in marriage markets with more men than women (26%) compared to areas with more women than men (6%).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> A 2017 study by the same researcher found that the No Toilet, No Bride initiative led to a 21% increase in private bathrooms in Haryana households "with boys active on the marriage market", while households without such boys saw no significant effect.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-01-22 |title=Anjali Adukia's research on India school restrooms {{!}} Ed Magazine |url=https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/ed-magazine/18/01/why-toilets-matter |access-date=2025-10-01 |website=www.gse.harvard.edu |language=en}}</ref> The campaign's results indicated that skewed local [[sex ratio]]s increase the bargaining power of women to demand goods and conditions on the marriage market.<ref name=":2" />

In 2013, the authorities in [[Sehore district]] made it mandatory for prospective grooms to submit photos of themselves posing with a functioning toilet in their homes in order to register for mass marriage events and receive certain benefits.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Silverstein |first=Amy |last2=Overdorf |first2=Jason |date=2016-07-30 |title=India: Men pose with toilets to woo brides |url=https://api.theworld.org/stories/2016/07/30/india-men-pose-toilets-woo-brides |access-date=2025-10-01 |website=The World from PRX |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Amarjeet |date=21 May 2013 |title=Pose with a toilet to get hitched in MP district |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pose-with-a-toilet-to-get-hitched-in-MP-district/articleshow/20164829.cms |website=Times of India}}</ref> In 2017 a [[Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes|scheduled caste]] community in Sheopur made certificates of functioning toilets mandatory for marriage,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saxena |first=Deshdeep |date=8 April 2017 |title=Mahors in MP embrace loos, shun dowry |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/mahors-in-mp-embrace-loos-shun-dowry/articleshow/58073533.cms |website=Times of India}}</ref> and 1,200 mostly Muslim representatives from 110 villages across Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh "unanimously decided" not to marry their daughters to families that lacked toilets, thus requiring certificates confirming that grooms have a functioning toilet in their home in order for the marriage to be solemnized.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Choudhry |first=Chetna |date=12 February 2017 |title=No brides for no houses without toilets, say 110 villages from 3 states |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/no-brides-for-houses-without-toilets-110-villages-declare/articleshow/57089451.cms |website=Times of India}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhatia |first=Anisha |date=16 February 2017 |title=No Toilet, No Bride: Haryana Sarpanch's Pro-Women, Pro-Swachh India Message {{!}} Swachh Warriors |url=https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/no-toilet-no-bride-haryana-sarpanchs-pro-women-pro-swachh-india-message-5088/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250803173802/https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/no-toilet-no-bride-haryana-sarpanchs-pro-women-pro-swachh-india-message-5088/ |archive-date=2025-08-03 |access-date=2025-10-01 |website=swachhindia.ndtv.com |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref> That same year, Ghanaian politician [[Cecilia Dapaah]] proposed the adoption of the "No Toilet, No Bride" demand in Ghana.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mohammed-Nurudeen |first=Mahmud |date=5 November 2017 |title='No Toilet, No Marriage' a key message at Mole WASH conference |url=https://www.myjoyonline.com/no-toilet-no-marriage-a-key-message-at-mole-wash-conference/ |website=MyJoyOnline}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Take Poo to the Loo]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{YouTube|id=liBPxiphF0U|title=Changing the Culture of Toilets in India}}

[[Category:Public health in India]]
[[Category:Toilets]]
[[Category:Culture of Haryana]]

No Toilet, No Bride - Revision history

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