Authors : Eliana Fleifel, Jodi Martin, and Affiah Khalid
Affiliated organisation: University of Waterloo
Site of publication: ic-sd.org
Type of publication: Research paper
Date of publication: 16 April 2019
While the burden of water insecurity in Sub- Saharan Africa weighs more on rural populations than urban ones, it also weighs disproportionately on the grounds of gender. Men and women living in rural spaces in Sub-Saharan Africa experience unequal rights to water and hold different roles, responsibilities and rights to its use.
From disproportionate dangers and health risks in fetching water to gender- unique water sanitation needs, women are at a disadvantage in meeting their basic water needs. While these issues are similar across different female populations in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, it is important to acknowledge the unique challenges and differences that each local context holds.
Target 6.1, under SDG 6, reveals that one of today’s many development challenges is the lack of equity in access to safe water.
Not only is the responsibility of water fetching disproportionately skewed toward women, but also, researchers Sorenson, Morssink, & Campos (2011) found that “there is a direct positive association between not having access to an improved water source and the percent of water fetchers who were women”.
Security threats and vulnerabilities
Since the water sources they walk to are very distant and require trekking unsecured paths, lone, defenseless women fetching water everyday often became targets of sexual violence and attacks.
Off route, women who fetch water are also vulnerable to domestic violence at home based on their ability to provide water in the household.Thus, both on and off route, women and girls are exposed to multiple forms of violence related to their ability to fetch and provide water.
With no security structure to protect women on their commute and no legal action against domestic abusers, these threats will remain a detrimental reality of water fetching among these women.
Health impact of journey
Women fetching large amounts of water multiple times a day have cited severe physiological health impacts attributed to the trip. Women have spoken to the injuries they have endured while walking to water sources, carrying gallons of it at a time, and starting this process from a very early age where physical development is at a critical phase.
The resulting health impacts seen from the dangers and realities of this activity not only impairs the physical development of women and girls but also hampers their ability to perform other daily activities including education, work, and care to thrive in their communities.
Energy and time loss
In some areas more than others, women spend long hours making the journey to fetch water every day. In relation to time, it is also important to note that the level of energy expelled to carry out water fetching on both long and short commutes leaves little energy for completing productive activities in the remaining daylight hours.
With no security structure to protect women on their commute and no legal action against domestic abusers, these threats will remain a detrimental reality of water fetching among these women
In Geere & Cortobius’s (2017) research, the authors found that “older adults, orphans, people living with long-term conditions, disability or facing social stigma may be less able to access and carry water, and therefore particularly vulnerable to household water insecurity”.
While all these groups may have different physical or circumstantial limitations, their inability to pursue the journey of fetching water widens the issue of inequity in water access and either leaves them forced to take more threatening trips to water sources, make other costly arrangements, or forfeit much of their basic needs for water use if neither two alternatives can be satisfied.
Even after journeying to the water resource, power relations, financial status and social standings governing that resource can affect the quantity and quality of water women collect and the amount of human dignity shown in the process.
A holistic SDG view on improving water access
The time, health and security impacts of water fetching on women and girls’ sets back the achievement of a multitude of SDG targets beyond SDG 6.1.
Both directly and indirectly related to water fetching, the following four SDG targets are argued to improve significantly with more equitable access to water resources:
- SDG target 1.2 on poverty eradication. Improving access to water in rural Sub-Saharan African populations frees up substantial hours in the day for women to partake in income generating activities. On this note, women’s involvement in economic activity not only contributes to poverty alleviation, but also makes progress in the broader areas of SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth).
The resulting health impacts seen from the dangers and realities of this activity not only impairs the physical development of women and girls but also hampers their ability to perform other daily activities including education, work, and care to thrive in their communities
- SDG target 3.D on health risk reduction. Since the physiological and psychosocial issues borne by these women can be considered a national health risk that must be managed and reduced, eliminating the harmful water fetching journey can prevent many physical development challenges from happening in the first place.
- SDG target 4.5 on access to education. Improving access through safe water infrastructure and replacing the time and energy given to fetching water with getting an education, will allow girls both equal access to education as well as access to the necessary supplies of water and sanitation needed to perform there.
- SDG target 5.2 on putting an end domestic and sexual violence against women. Implementing a close, fairly managed water supply that does not require trekking isolated routes, exchanging sex for water and falling short on household water levels is needed to keep women from these threatening situations, dissolve the exploitive power relations in access to water, and ensure a more reliable supply of water that keep household conflicts at bay.
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