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].
I really enjoyed this post! I was just wondering how you think access to safe water can be achieved if women are not consulted in for example things like the position of wells? Perhaps they need to be consulted first rather than waiting for access to safe water to arise and the hoping women then have the opportunity to become more empowered as a result. Will safe water ever actually be achievable everywhere if a) women are not consulted first and b) there is not enough water available in the first place?
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks! You make a good point with the idea that women need to be consulted as the main providers of domestic water - I definitely agree with you, and perhaps the lack of consultation could be one reason why the MDG was not as successful as hoped. However, I also think that the decision to improve safe water provision still has to come from above, as it is unlikely that many of the communities who lack access to safe water will have the financial or material resources to improve their access on their own. This is quite an interesting debate, and one that I'll try to explore further in later blog posts!
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ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent point and goes back to this debate of whether top-down or bottom-up approaches are best or whether we can find a more collaborative management approach that will include everyone. Certainly though I think you are right that it is unrealistic to expect the situation to improve without interference from above. I look forward to reading your later blog posts!
ReplyDeleteMany approaches to water supply provision are bottom-up whether it rural or urban - though more commonly for the former. Governments, despite their stated commitment, have limited resources and communities often cannot wait for them to intervene on their behalf. One of the facts about urban and rural water supply that has been learned through women is the range and diversity of water supplies that are used in any one home in many part of Africa.
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