Intersectional invisibility and structural violence: caste, gender, and occupational stigma in the lives and legal exclusion of women sanitation workers in India – a critical review

Women engaged in sanitation work in India are socially and economically marginalised, and their identities as women, caste, class and as workers are multiply marginalised. Through the prism of intersectionality defined by American lawyer and social scientist, Kimberlé Crenshaw, this critical review synthesises the current body of literature on the issue along with legal documents, policy papers and qualitative studies ranging from participatory studies to phenomenology to explore how the multiple identities of women and girls affect their experiences of social and structural violence arising out of the stigma attached to their work as well as the poor treatment meted out to them. Issues, such as social stigma, fear of social stigma, reproductive health issues, humiliation and forced labour over generations are all invisible when caste and gender issues are viewed through a binary lens. This critical review calls for an intersectional approach to the development of law and policy to address the working conditions of women and girls in the sanitation sector and to secure their dignity, social justice, improved mental and physical health and to end marginalisation, stigma and violence in their lives.