Don’t let your dialectical prowess be unformed, what we have in Pakistan is a widely unequal society. Let's decipher the deep rooted entrenchment of class based configuration of our society. A configuration that still prevails despite our proclamations to the contrary. Where you urinate is all that matters do you want to know how we treat our women and the plebs in our society, just go the toilet, just do it! and upon your return you will have all the answers. If you are an upper class heiress you will urinate in a fancy toilet, won’t you? But alas!

The lower class women, commoner and member of the disregarded plebs has to urinate in inadequate sanitary facilities often with lack of proper privacy. What’s worse is that many public outing spaces frequented by the working class don’t even have restrooms for women, these places that don’t even have toilets for women leaving them as an afterthought ignore that mostly children feel comfortable accompanying their mothers and they need wide clean toilets especially when they menstruate. Long queues are a constant sight at public restrooms for women belonging to the lower strata of society. While for upper and middle-class women restrooms are a welcome refuge to laugh and catch up with their girlfriends.

The problem is now compounded by the fact that now we have the coronavirus pandemic and inadequate hygienic conditions put people at greater risk of catching the virus. We live as unequals in this supposed togetherness brought about by coronavirus pandemic we will remain unequal if we don’t realize deprioritizing policy making for vulnerable communities reproduces the problems further. To use the luxurious restroom or not is a privilege afforded by your class. Confined in these slums these small living spaces no privacy and we could be claustrophobic for all you know, but it doesn’t matter we need bigger and better restrooms; it’s a basic right but do our policy makers care? The elite brass is unconcerned about these issues. When elites living in rich bungalows hire maid servants they do not encourage or tolerate them taking toilet breaks for long and the toilets they do provide stand in sharp contrast to the one they have reserved for themselves. You are homeless  and menstruating, the coronavirus pandemic has hit the nation, the state has failed you, no proper public toilets available, society doesn’t want to empower you despite all the pronouncements, they don’t want a classless society and so on. This inequality is uncongealed right before us are we going to ignore it? The epitaph we want to write once the pandemic is over; what will it be about? Are we going to acknowledge this issue?

If the operative principles in our society have to be justice, we need to explore this issue for it has undertones of social justice. Model public toilets must be made available for the disadvantaged and marginalized section of society. For working women as well, their workplaces must have model restrooms that are designed to accommodate needs of menstruating and lactating women. Accesses to adequate restrooms is a problem that affects both men and women but women are affected most and we cant cast a lazy glance over this issue it glazes over class issues that are so deeply entombed in our society are we ever going to unmask this casket of indifference that we adore so much. This pandemic is about class divisions no other explanation fits. Why aspire for normalcy once the pandemic is over when normal is crude, unequal and brutish for many people our class structure is oppressive and this needs to be rectified. When we diagnose the coronavirus we see it for what it is so lethal in its microbial smallness the society we live in is so unequal especially for lower class women even at microbial level but we just don’t care, do we?