Is Water a Women's Issue?

Whilst in my previous blog I mentioned how men are also important figures in the management of water, in this blog and throughout I will discuss how women are more important actors of water management as they are responsible for the collection of water in many sub-Saharan African countries. This blog will specifically focus on the management of water in Ethiopia and the ways in which water is primarily affecting the development of women.

How is collecting water affecting the development of women in Africa? 

Firstly, women readily compromise their development in order to collect water and maintain their households. In Ethiopia for example, more than 4.7 million households reported an adult female is the primary water collector when collection times were above 30 minutes (Graham et al, 2016). Furthermore, Cook et al (2012) found that on average collection times in the dry season can rise to 9 hours due to limited availability of functioning water sources, thus longer distance to travel and longer queues. As such, this becomes the bulk of the daily workloads of women who are the primary collectors of water which means women are unable to empower themselves either through further education or by opening up their own small business. Thus, as Tucker notes ‘’the necessity of collecting water means that other activities such as income-generation, farm work, caring for family members and leisure, are foregone’’ (Tucker et al, 2014; 28). As a result, poor women have had to close down their business in order to maintain water collection, especially in the dry season and some have had to withdraw their children from education in order to help with water collection. This is exacerbated with the growing number of non-functionable water sources which means women are required to travel further in order to collect water, which further aggravates the development of women.

Secondly, the long period of water collection can have negative consequences on human health. The large amount of time taken to collect water requires considerable energy which places high demands on the metabolism and can result in spinal pain and the transportation of water exposes one to the risk of injury (Graham et al, 2016).The burden is even heavier for pregnant women and those carrying small children. Drawing back to the non-functionable water sources, which do not provide adequate if not any water because of a lack of repairs or due to the breakdown of the system has meant that women who have more contact with water for domestic use are more likely to be exposed to water borne diseases as they are compelled to resort to unsafe sources. This also means that children or family members who get sic from consuming poor quality water, women are then needing to spent time looking after their family. Thus, such consequences associated with water represents lost opportunities for women's education, employment, leisure or even sleep. 

Lastly, collecting water can be dangerous for women and girls. They can be exposed to physical or sexual assault or face conflict at an inadequate providing water source.  

A study of women and water insecurity in Ethiopia found that 18.5% of women kept a girl home from school to help with water collection (Stevenson et al, 2012). Graham et al (2016), in their study of water collection labor in 24 Sub-Saharan African countries found that female children were more likely to be responsible for water collection and specifically in Ethiopia 1,321,424 households had children responsible for water collection. The continuous breakdown in the functionality of water infrastructure makes it hard to break this cycle, limiting long term development, which means girls are more likely to be taken away from education who then eventually become the sole provider and collector of water like their mothers. As a result, opportunity to progress is limited and this cycle of water management repeats

Therefore, back to the main question is water a women's issue? Hell YES. 

So, what do we need to do to empower women in Africa? 

As the burden of hauling water rests primarily on women and as the insufficient access to safe water poses higher risks to women, we need to focus more on women's needs. Development programs that seek to improve access to water need to critically ask women about their needs and experiences. In most cases, women are left out of community run projects and the construction and planning of water points are left in the hands of men who are obscure managers of water. I realise this was a very long blog so thank you for getting this far! 

Downloaded from the World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/12/14/water-cartoon-calendar-2018?CID=WAT_TT_Water_EN_EXT

References

Cook et al. (2012). ‘’Measuring the impact of convenient water supply on household time use in rural Ethiopia.’’

Graham. J et al. (2016). ‘’An analysis of water collection labor among women and children in 2 sub    SaharanAfrican countries.’’ PloS one,

Tucker et al. (2014). ‘’ Household water use, poverty and seasonality: wealth effects, labour constraints, and minimal consumption in Ethiopia’’

Stevenson. E et al. (2012). ''Water insecurity in 3 dimensions: an anthropological perspective on water and women's psychological distress in Ethiopia.'' Social science & medicine, pp. 394-400.