1#Water, Gender and Development: An Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog, ‘The Case of Africa: Water, Gender and Development’. Over the coming weeks, I will explore the intersecting factors of water, gender, and development in the context of African countries, and their relevance to one another. From water collection to water provision and management, this blog will demonstrate that there is a severe concern regarding water accessibility and the unequal and gendered impacts of this.


The portrayal of Africa

Binyanavanga Wainaina’s article How to write about Africa, calls for a revision of these common stereotypes and misconceptions of Africa as being uncivilised, in constant suffering and dire need of saving from the White Saviour. While there exists an abundance of text concerning water and development in Africa, many engage with Western narratives of Africa: ‘as if it were a country’. Western mainstream media has recycled these stereotypes one too many times from drawing on the ‘prominent ribs’ of those stricken by hunger and poverty in Africa to the cuisines to which ‘no other humans eat’. It is important then, to reiterate that Africa is a continent; one of 54 countries, 900 million people and around 2,000 spoken languages. Knowing this, we must recognise the naivety in making such generalisations about Africa and must by all means, avoid doing so.

The water crisis in Africa

While water is a fundamental human need, 785 million people in the world still lack access to it thus making it a water crisis. Of 785 million people, 40% can be located in sub-Saharan Africa. This is despite Africa holding 9% of the world’s total freshwater resources. It is obvious then, that Africa’s water issues are concerned with accessibility rather than scarcity. Reasons for inaccessibility to freshwater resources include the adverse effects of climate change on rainfall patterns and extreme events (droughts and floods), poverty, a lack of resources and infrastructure for providing and distributing freshwater resources and also, over abstraction.

The ‘water chore’

Throughout the world, young girls and women play a major and disproportionate role in the fetching and carrying of domestic water, also known as the water chore. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, economically disadvantaged young girls and women spend an average of 40 billion hours a year collecting water. Water collection presents numerous problems for these girls and women including the manual handling of heavy water containers, the long distance travelling to piped water supplies, and lost opportunities. In many cases, young girls must choose between seeking to meet their individual but also often their families’ daily needs for water and going to school.  

Not attending school presents a major disadvantage for the health and well-being of young girls and women as they may be forced to depend on older men who have greater socioeconomic status. This can consequently expose them to gender-based violence as they lack negotiating power in what is typically an age-disparate relationship. Reduced access to water can also create an unhygienic environment for childbirth and menstruation. 

How do water, gender and development link?

Fortunately, international organisations such as the United Nations (UN) have been committed to tackling the water crisis. Fortunately, you ask? How can we feel fortunate about the involvement of global organisations after all we know about the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)? Well, it is important that we do not club all international organisations together and recognise that their ideas of development can differ. While agencies such as the WB and IMF are more financially oriented, the UN is more developmentary oriented. 

The UN’s developmental efforts can be recognised in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which put forward seventeen aspirational goals intended on reaching a sustainable future. The SDGs 5 and 6 highlight that if we are to reach sustainability, global development initiatives must consider both gender inequality and the empowerment of all girls and women as well as providing access to clean water and sanitation for all. Not only do the SDGs stress the seriousness of global issues surrounding water and gender, but they also ensure that countries take accountability and share responsibility for tackling these issues. In essence, it is imperative that we understand the gendered relationship between water and development in Africa as inequalities surrounding water and gender are mutually reinforcing.

Source: The UN SDG Goals

It is therefore undeniable that gender, water, and development are inextricably linked. While this post has only somewhat defined these links, over the next few weeks, I hope to further contextualise them through issues of water collection, sanitation, climate change, agriculture and finally, participation.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#3Women Still Carry Most of the World's Water: The Case of Ethiopia

Image
Why the need for a gendered and child-centred approach? Hi guys, and welcome back! Last week I highlighted the inequities women face in accessing and using water due to cultural norms which prevail across many African countries and societies. Today, I want to keep the focus on inequity, specifically on the gendered nature of water collection.   So, why should we adopt a gendered and child-centred approach to understand water collection? Well, first and foremost, the task of collecting water falls disproportionately on young girls and women (YGAW) in the household. This is especially true for rural regions across Africa where inadequate water infrastructures leaves YGAW no choice but to travel long distances and queue long hours for water. The non-governmental organisation WaterAid estimates that globally, women spend around 200 million hours fetching water. Second, in Sub-Saharan Africa women’s lives are heavily influenced by water collection. The amount of time spent fe...
Read more

#5A Man's World

Image
I recently explored the challenges that menstruating young girls and women (YGAW) face with access to wash, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities. Today, I am focusing on the violent atrocities that YGAW encounter when such facilities are lacking or inadequate. In Sub-S aharan Africa, where the state of sanitation is deteriorating, open defecation continues to remain a common practice. Approximately 215 million people continue to engage in open defecation. This is despite the Sustainable Development Goals proposing that countries must provide adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls. Evidently, there is a long way to reaching this target. Informal settlements and WASH   The issue of open defecation is most acute within informal settlements, and Kenya remains a prime example of this. For decades, the government have failed to acknowledge these informal settlements and so the enforcem...
Read more

#4The War on Period Poverty

Image
This week we celebrated World Toilet Day, a campaign advocating for safely managed sanitation around the world.  Thus, I dedicate today’s blog to the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities for young girls and women (YGAW), referring to Rwanda and Ethiopia throughout. Have you ever imagined life without a toilet? Truth is, many of you probably have not and until recently, neither had I. Having a toilet is a privilege often taken for granted and for many people across Sub-Saharan Africa accessibility is a real problem. While 43% of people do not have access to basic water supply, 72% are deprived of basic sanitation.   What is period poverty? YGAW are disproportionately affected by the lack of access to basic WASH facilities. During menstruation, the concerns become increasingly visible; YGAW living in resource-poor countries in Africa, appropriate WASH facilities and sanitary products are completely absent or unaffordable, with limited disposal option...
Read more