Domestic water collection as a barrier to female empowerment...

Access to safe water is a key indicator of development and the well-being of a country's population (Tchouassi, 2012). The UN Millennium Development Goal to halve the proportion of  the world's population without safe drinking water reportedly resulted in 2.6 billion people gaining access to improved water sources between 1990 and 2015 (UN, 2016). However, this might be rather an optimistic representation of the success of this goal. Efforts to ensure a safe water supply in African countries only really considered drinking water, and little time was devoted to ensuring that communities also had access to enough safe water for bathing, washing and other domestic uses (Chant & McIlwaine, 2013). This meant that although a water supply close to a community might have been improved, it was not enough to sustain the needs of the population it was meant to be supporting. If this is the case, then it can be argued that despite the relative success in extending the reach of safe water around the world, this particular MDG has not been wholly successful in improving the level of development and well-being of African populations. 

African women and girls in particular are generally the main collectors of domestic water in both rural and urban regions. It is this gendered role which is one of the most influential barriers to female empowerment (Chant & McIlwaine, 2013). As women have to spend large portions of their day sourcing water, often from multiple locations, for their household needs, this takes away valuable time from schooling or employment opportunities, or even away from times when they would otherwise be performing other gendered domestic chores. Domestic work is commonly synonymous with a female's work, and often has a lower value placed upon it due to its lack of economic value. In the study which I referred to in the previous post, by Harris et al, males in Accra and Ghana often underestimated the magnitude of work and time set aside for these female tasks, and often consider them to be much less complicated than they actually are. Therefore, if a woman is unable to complete the tasks that are expected of her because she is out searching for usable water,  then, beyond a lack of empowerment, she might also be more likely to suffer domestic abuse, as she is seen to be failing or neglecting the most basic tasks. That is perhaps a worst case scenario – in a more optimistic case, she might only be under-appreciated, or judged by her wider community.  

The future in urban regions is likely to be demographically dominated by females (Chant & McIlwaine, 2013), which could either be a great opportunity for female empowerment, or something significantly more disappointing. At present, with female education taking a backseat in favour of collecting water for the household or helping out at home, it looks more like it could be the latter. Without a similar level of education to their male counterparts, it is likely that in the future, although there may be more women in the workforce, they will take the role of labourers and unskilled workers, whilst males who might have a better education will fit into the roles of managers and more knowledge-intensive jobs which can allow for a higher level of empowerment. In this case, the greater numbers of female workers will only complement the hierarchical nature of many industries. 

If access to safe water for all domestic purposes were to be improved, then female empowerment might become a tangible possibility in the near future, as women and girls would have more time to devote to education or employment opportunities, which could contribute to an equal level of proficiency between men and women.  

This post has focused on the idea that a lack of access to enough safe water means that women and girls' time for pursuits such as education and employment is compromised, and therefore the well-being of half of the African population is put at risk in the future, impeding its development in the present. The next post will focus on supporting this idea with case study examples from various African countries.  

List of References  

Chant S. & Mcilwaine C. (2013) Gender, Urban Development and the Politics of Space, [online] Available at: http://www.e-ir.info/2013/06/04/gender-urban-development-and-the-politics-of-space/ [accessed: 27.10.16] 

Harris L, Klieber D, Goldin J, Darkwah A & Morinville C. (2016) 'Intersections of gender and water: comparative approaches to everyday gendered negotiations of water access in underserved areas pf Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa' Journal of gender studies. 1-22. 

Tchouassi G. (2012) 'Does Gender Equality work for Sustainable Development in Central Africa Countries?', European Journal of Sustainable Development, 1 (3), 383-398 

UN (2016) Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability. [online]. Available at: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/environ.shtml [Accessed: 30.10.16].  

First thoughts on water and gender

Water, and our relationship with it is something that we in the Western world might only think about on the rare occasions that we check our water meter, or see a news headline proclaiming water scarcity far away from us. The simple act of turning on the tap or, in England, stepping outside, brings us into contact with what, in other regions of the world, is the source of almost constant stress and worry (Harris et al, 2016). The stress and worry that Harris et al (2016) refer to is experienced primarily by women and girls, who tend to be the main providers of domestic water. Common discourses around issues of water and gender in Africa are that male and female experiences of water management, governance, access and usage are differentiated, and that higher levels of access to water can be associated with increases in gender equality (Khvan, 2014; Harris et al 2016). This blog will focus particularly on regions in Africa, and on the genderedness of the human relationship with water in this region. 

The World Health Organisation defines reasonable access to water as having access to 'at least 20 litres per person per day from one source within one kilometre of the user's dwelling' (Thompson et al, 2011, pg.112). However, this does not reflect the fact that these supplies are not always a constant source of water, and so the creativity and persistence that women employ to source enough water for their household is often overlooked. A recent study based in Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa, found that a statistically significant proportion of the women studied would expect to spend a substantial part of the day fetching water (Harris et al, 2016). This then means that females will have less time or opportunity to work or go to school, meaning less chances to become independent, or support themselves outside of their prescribed role within the household. This is of course an obvious oversimplification of a complex issue, and in later posts I shall examine the relationship between access to water and opportunities for increased gender equality in greater detail.  

It would be easy to assume that males have no involvement with domestic water usage, however this is not true, and as such, they cannot be excluded from a gendered analysis of the human relationship with water and development. Whilst women are generally agreed upon as the primary providers of water to their household, there has been significantly more difficulty in identifying the primary manager of water within the family unit. In Accra and Ghana, a large percentage of the women studied felt that water management meetings were open to men only, whilst the men appeared to feel that the meetings were open to everyone (Harris et al, 2016). This could imply that men and women might jointly decide water use within their household, but social norms might dictate that females are seen as more submissive within the wider community. Again, this is an assumption that I will investigate further in future posts.  

Women have been emphasised throughout this post, and throughout my experience of the literature so far, as the key providers of water to their household, however the managers have not been so clearly defined. The role of gender is clearly very important in determining outcomes of water management and development, so will be considered carefully in posts to come.  

List of References  

Harris L, Klieber D, Goldin J, Darkwah A & Morinville C. (2016) 'Intersections of gender and water: comparative approaches to everyday gendered negotiations of water access in underserved areas pf Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa' Journal of gender studies. 1-22.  

Khvan O. (2014) 'In fight for gender equality in Africa, clean water plays a key role: Fetching water is a household chore traditionally delegated to women and girls in Africa' Global Post Boston. 15.4.  

Thompson J.A, Folifac F, & Gaskin S.J. (2011) 'Fetching water in the unholy hours of the night: The impacts of a water crisis on girls' sexual health in semi-urban Cameroon' Girlhood Studies 4, 2, 111-129.