A gap in the literature?

When I started this blog, I had every intention of investigating the relationships between water and gender in African countries, but I didn't necessarily know what this would entail. I expected that there might be a gendered aspect to perceptions and experiences of water-based issues - why else would it be a suggested topic? I even expected that women might be more responsible for the sourcing of domestic water - is the clue in the word domestic? However, I wasn't expecting the extent to which the literature reaffirms and accentuates these presumptions. Although this won't be the last post that I put up, I want to take a quick break from the more informative pieces I've done so far, and just take a minute to reflect on what I've read so far and, importantly, what I haven't.

It appears to be a commonly accepted fact that increased access to safe water is related to higher levels of female empowerment. Increased access to safe water means that women and young girls have to spend less time walking long distances to fetch water from dubious sources, and so can spend more time in education, pursuing employment opportunities, or simply have more time to dedicate to other domestic or community pursuits (Harris et al, 2016). Spending more time in work and education means that females are more able to operate on an equal footing with males, and so existing gender-based designations of societal roles will start to be broken down for the next generation. This positive circle of events might be comforting to believe but it also sounds almost too good to be true. It is very easy to accept this as a hard and fast truth, but I have found very few case studies which explicitly reaffirm this. Rather, there are elements of this truth in many case studies, but not necessarily the whole thing. I don't wish to belittle the role of a reliable water source in contributing to female empowerment in any way, however I do feel that perhaps there should be further investigation, and recognition that cultural complexities that are specific to separate communities also play a large role in female empowerment.

Additionally, perhaps in line with Western positionality, the existing literature makes it very easy to assume that females are the only ones who need to be empowered by improving access to water. There are many words that could describe the ways that we in the West might view cultures of developing regions, or of whole continents such as Africa. Our perspectives might be described as orientalist, colonial or superior, but here, the most appropriate term is 'reductionist'. Issues of water scarcity are reduced to impacting only women and, as far as much of the literature is concerned, has little effect on men. One of the only references I have come across assesses the impact of varying water availability on men is Abrahams et al (2011), which considers the extent to which water and sanitation services are provided to women and men. Whilst in many sources (Chant & McIlwaine, 2013; Mmbengwa et al, 2014) women are considered in their own right, I haven't found nearly as many where male experiences of water provision are considered alone. It almost seems as it efforts to avoid the marginalisation of females within academic discourse have gone so far that the male is being forgotten as the other side of a gendered consideration.

Whilst I don't disagree in any way with the strong focus on the relationship between women and water, and the potential for female empowerment, the best form of development would be one which empowers all marginalised groups of people, not just those of a specific gender or cultural stereotype. In order for this to occur, I feel that there should be a more widely available body of literature with a more inclusive focus on the gendered relationship between males and water, as well as a recognition of the cultural complexities that can add to or take away from the empowering potential of a safe water supply.

A quick look at gendered issues of sanitation...

As I mentioned in my last post, I want to focus a little more on the relationship between gender and sanitation, with a particular focus on the different experiences of men and women in African communities. From the reading that I have done so far to create previous blog posts, there has been one undeniable, inescapable conclusion – women and girls are most likely to bear the brunt of issues arising from inadequate infrastructures for safe water or sanitation provision. Everyone within a community that has poor sanitation provision will experience general, but not insignificant issues, such as increased prevalence of water-borne diseases, and higher mortality rates (Galan et al, 2013). Days that could otherwise be spent working and earning an income will instead be spent trying to recover from the latest bout of diarrhoeal disease, and spending money on medicines. This is likely to be more of an impact that men will experience, as they are generally the more economically productive out of the husband-wife partnership in many African countries (May & Andy, 1997). Everyday, hours that could be spent on education, domestic work or earning a living, are instead spent travelling long distances to find a suitable place to go to the toilet. Men, women and children alike all have to lose this time to the task of relieving themselves, however for women and young girls it can be more arduous and risk-ridden than for men. Vulnerability to attack or harassment, cultural condemnation, and domestic expectations are just three of the perils that women have to juggle on a daily basis when sanitation provision is inadequate.  

People living in extreme poverty can be found in both rural and urban settings, however, contrary to what you might think, issues of inadequate sanitation are often the most prominent in urban slums (Govender et al, 2011). The high population density and lack of urban space mean that its occupants often have to travel further, and for longer to find open spaces to defecate if acceptable sanitation facilities aren't provided. A study by Reddy & Snehalatha (2011) in India found that residents in even the most vulnerable communities made a link between poor sanitation and the presence of disease and disease-carrying vectors, such as mosquitoes. This linkage means that defecating within the streets of the settlements carries with it embarrassment and judgement from other members of the community. To avoid this, people often choose to travel to open spaces as discreetly as they can, or at extremely early or late times of the day when fewest people are around. For women, the least disagreeable option is often to travel in groups at around 4.30 am. This way, they can minimise the risk of attack, or the chance that someone will see them.  

These extreme measures that women have to go to for privacy are even more apparent when they are menstruating. Menstruation is perceived as unclean and dirty, and is often not considered when setting up sanitation facilities within an urban settlement (Abrahams et al, 2011). In India, similar attitudes prevail in urban slum settlements, and here, women use cloths which they change two to three times per day. When these are washed, they are dried only in places where men will not come across them. When the cloths need to be disposed of after a few months, standard practise is to seal them in a bag, and bury them far from the settlements. The few usable toilets in the urban slums of Hyderabad, where the study is set, do not have facilities to dispose of sanitary materials, meaning that women will often choose to clean themselves in an open field, than an actual latrine because they feel it is more private. Although this information is from an Indian context, it is easy to imagine similar conditions within urban slums of Africa, particularly as a study by Abrahams et al found that women do not benefit nearly as much from developmental provision of sanitation as men.  

Female empowerment is an often cited outcome of NGO or government focus on a particular area. However, claiming that female empowerment is a direct result of installing pumps or up to date toilet facilities would be like claiming that an intricate tapestry is made up of just two threads. Female empowerment may face obstacles such as societal attitudes, and much of the population of a traditionally patriarchal community may not know how to accept new female outspokenness. The next post will examine in more detail the ways that the presence, or lack of an adequate water supply can affect female empowerment, beyond simply allowing more time for work or domestic chores.