How much do slums affect women’s ability to negotiate access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH)? We used random narratives, interviews, and a review of literature from theoretical and secondary sources to capture the experiences of slum dwellers in South-South Nigeria. Our findings demonstrate that women and girls bear disproportionate burden and risk of poor and inadequate WaSH services in the course of domestic supplies and management and making tough choices in negotiating between personal sanitary needs of privacy and safety as well as attending to domestic hygiene, childcare and other chores. These lived realities and experiences are partly associated with gendered public policy practices, linked to the broader socio-cultural norm that confine women’s roles to the private/domestic spheres, while men are free to pursue higher aspirations and opportunities. Limited State capacity to guarantee universal access to WaSH for slum dwellers automatically shifts the responsibility for its provision to the private/domestic domain with women bearing the greater burden. We argue that the non-recognition of slums in official discourses limit their consideration for essential public services provision, and the implication of such neglect is discussed in the context of the consequences on women in the course of negotiating access to WaSH.

贫民窟对妇女协商获得水、环境卫生和个人卫生 (WaSH) 的能力有多大影响？我们使用随机叙述、访谈以及来自理论和二手资料的文献回顾来捕捉尼日利亚南南部贫民窟居民的经历。我们的研究结果表明，妇女和女孩在家庭用品和管理过程中承担了不成比例的负担和风险，即在家庭用品和管理以及在个人卫生需求之间进行谈判时，隐私和安全以及注意家庭卫生、儿童保育和其他家务。这些活生生的现实和经历部分与性别化的公共政策实践相关，与将女性角色限制在私人/家庭领域的更广泛的社会文化规范相关联，而男性则可以自由地追求更高的抱负和机会。保证贫民窟居民普遍获得 WaSH 的国家能力有限，这自动将其提供的责任转移到了私人/家庭领域，而妇女承担了更大的负担。我们认为，在官方话语中对贫民窟的不承认限制了他们对基本公共服务提供的考虑，并且在谈判获得 WaSH 的过程中对妇女的后果的背景下讨论了这种忽视的含义。