The connection between female literacy and technology adoption in rural societies: Exploring female literacy and technology adoption for promoting the usage of water-based toilets in India

摘要

Efforts for rural development and improvement in their living standards by different developmental schemes in India have met with varying degrees of success. There are different issues in rural communities which act as barriers for rural development. According to WHO/UNICEF 2014 report, around one billion people in the world still practice open defecation, and as per WHO 2012 report, over 600 million people are from India [1,2]. Open defecation and poor sanitation causes contamination of soil and water. Hygienic disposal of human excreta is a major issue faced by rural India and other communities. A simple technology solution to this problem is the toilet.