Over the last seven posts, I have tried to explore some of the literature and discourses around the relationship between water and gender in Africa. And I have found that there is no one path from water source improvement to female, or male, empowerment. As the weeks rolled past and the posts went up, I began to appreciate the complexities involved in water supply and what it means to those who can't simply turn on the tap whenever they want.
As I have discussed in multiple posts, there is a strong focus on the female experience of water-based societal inequities, from the idea of women's time poverty (Ray, 2009) to a headline image of the World Toilet Day website. Women stand to lose out on opportunities education, employment and status within their community when they have to spend large portions of the day in the pursuit of water and sanitation. The same argument can, and should be made for men also – a lack of water or sanitation is inhibiting to a male's status, education and ability to work too. The main distinction between men and women in much of the literature that I have encountered, is that women are the ones who source the water. Economically unproductive work is the sole domain of women and girls. Interestingly however, economically productive work is not strictly reserved for males – women often take on menial labour jobs to generate additional income. It would be easy to rail against the ways that many African communities operate, with the role of women spanning both domestic and income generating spheres whilst men appear to exist exclusively outside the home. However, the lack of literature on the male experience of water scarcity makes me unwilling to jump to such a conclusion so quickly.
I feel that the disparity in literature availability on the relationship between men and water versus that of women and water could be in part, due to the way that the issue is approached. Instead of focusing on the ways that women lose out when their water supply is insufficient, I feel that the discourse should shift to consider what women have to gain when their water supply is improved. When we lose something, we are left with a hole that needs to be filled, and we know what it is we have to do to replace it. However when we look to gain something new, we are not constrained by our preconceived notions of what should be there and so are open to more possibilities. Within the context of water and gender, when we look at what women lose, we see the 'hole' in their life, and we know that it should be filled with opportunities for education, employment and status. However, men do not lose out on these to the same extent, so there is no 'hole' to observe. This makes it easier to assume that men don't suffer from a lack of water, until you consider what they might stand to gain. Men and women alike stand to gain a level of empowerment from an improved water supply, and so I feel that both genders should be studied together, and as separate entities.
Empowerment can occur in numerous different ways and on many different scales, and this is perhaps the overarching idea that I have been working towards over the course of this blog, Empowerment, and female empowerment particularly, does not look the same in all contexts, and so cannot be reached by one single pathway. Water supply and female empowerment, although linked, do not exist as a cause and effect relationship, and to say that they are would be too simplistic, and just wrong. The most important and biggest concept that this blog has revealed to me is that female empowerment is a long term goal that will likely extend beyond the timescale of installing an adequate water supply, and needs to be wanted by the women that it is being applied to. Although female empowerment is heavily reliant on a secure water supply, a community can have access to water without it leading to empowerment.
This blog has given me a space to consider the relationship between water and gender in greater detail, and has helped to shape my thoughts on the critical issues surrounding water and development in Africa. I hope it has been enlightening to you also, reader, and thank you for accompanying me along the way.
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