Shouldering the Burden

A post from last October entitled ‘It is not a man's job to fetch water’ on the blog ‘Survival, Safety, Security: Gender vs. Water and Sanitation in Africa’s Informal Settlements’ written by Matita Afoakwa (http://reflectingongendervswater.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/less-than-20-of-seats-in-national.html) includes an illustration showing women carrying water while a group of men sit and discuss water management and issues of water. The women are clearly not involved in the discussion. Beneath the illustration, the caption reads ‘Less than 20% of seats in national parliament are held by women’. Afoakwa concludes that this picture is accurate as it reflects ignorant attitudes towards water management.

Clearly women in Africa do shoulder the majority of the burden of collecting water. Furthermore, they are excluded from major discussions of water management as are many different types of stakeholders. Without proper representation of the whole community, or more often several communities, water management schemes cannot be effective as voices and opinions are excluded.

An example of how greater understanding of the needs of stakeholders is required is shown in a study by Osman Bah in Sierre Leone. This was undertaken as part of the International Drinking Water Decade (1981-1999) set up at the 1977 UN ‘Water Conference’ at Mar del Plata. The aim was improve the water supply to rural areas by improving wells. After 1520 improved wells were built, Bah returned to the site and surveyed the water usage in this area. He found that only 10% of village water and 1-12% of farm water actually came from these improved wells. 74% of drinking water actually came from traditional sources such as open wells or swamp pits. The failure of this scheme came down to a lack of understanding about the position of the wells as all the farms in the area were remote from the village where the new wells were situated meaning the farmers had to travel to reach this improved supply. Furthermore, for women, the improved wells were largely felt to be unnecessary as the new location of the wells within the village meant that their conversations could now be overheard when collecting water, whereas before the wells were situated outside the village, giving the women a chance to talk openly together (Bah, 2016).

This scheme failed as there was a lack of recognition of how water was used and, as is almost always the case, women were among those affected. Whilst it is generally accepted that cutting down the time it takes for women to collect water is necessary, it is important to assess each case individually and acknowledge the opinions of those affected in order to achieve the most successful outcome.

For women, the problem extends beyond risks and issues when collecting water to those women who live in communities with limited access to water. In these areas, women are more at risk of blindness by infection from trachoma (http://www.gender.cawater-info.net/what_is/facts_e.htm).

As women face an acute number of issues relating to water, they should be involved in discussions of water management. Their personal experiences and knowledge would only enhance the effectiveness of any water management scheme and cannot be underestimated. Therefore, I do agree with Afoakwa that the illustration she used shows the ignorance of water management discussions as these can only be described as limited without the involvement of all stakeholders.

References:

Bah, O. (1986). The socio-economic impact of improved well water supplies in Sierra Leone.

http://www.gender.cawater-info.net/what_is/facts_e.htm

http://reflectingongendervswater.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/less-than-20-of-seats-in-national.html

Female Farmers

This week, I will be discussing smallholder female farmers and groundwater irrigation issues that affect them.

Women farmers can benefit from groundwater irrigation, however, they traditionally have no right to inherit land. This puts them in a disadvantaged position due to lack of land tenure and it also makes it difficult for female farmers to obtain loans and thereby equipment for irrigation (Villholth, 2013: 381).

Furthermore, female-headed households tend to have smaller plots of land available to irrigate. This means that manual methods for lifting water are often common and women tend to have a smaller labour force available than a male-headed household. This is generally due to the fact that female-headed households are usually smaller (Villholth, 2013: 381). 

As they are disproportionately responsible for household chores, women also have less time available for agricultural activities than men (Van Koppen, 2013: 841), which, overall, means that female farmers are at a distinct disadvantage and face great difficulties due to the unequal experiences they have.

There is already evidence available indicating that in grant schemes where women are favoured, the overall communities benefit (Villholth, 2013) 381). However, an article by Van Koppen et al., (2013) states that it is not yet clear whether closing the gender gap would aid the achievement of water-policy goals or hinder it. Their argument is that as men are often assumed to be better technology adopters, efforts to provide equal opportunities to men and women could actually reduce the possible success of only targeting men (Van Koppen et al., 2013: 840).

However, the same study does mention that there is research showing women in rural Africa are as productive as men and so this particular study concluded that women are proactive irrigation adopters despite the difficulties they face. Furthermore, Van Koppen et al.’s paper suggests that by removing gender-specific issues, water policy makers would aid more efficient water management by helping all small-holder farmers, female and male, and encourage more groundwater irrigation at these small-holder farms, as well as addressing the gender-policy goals of that particular country at the same time (Van Koppen et al., 2013: 850).

As will be discussed in a later week, empowering women in all aspects of water management has shown to be incredibly effective, and groundwater irrigation has been no different. It is my opinion that gender equality must not be ignored in the improvement of water management.

References:
Van Koppen, B., Hope, L., & Colenbrander, W. (2013). Gender aspects of smallholder private groundwater irrigation in Ghana and Zambia. Water International, 38(6), 840-851.

Villholth, K., 2013. Groundwater irrigation for smallholders in Sub-Saharan Africa - a synthesis of current knowledge to guide sustainable outcomes. Water International, Vol. 38, 369-391

Introduction

There is a growing volume of literature suggesting women and men often have disparate relationships to water access, knowledge, governance, uses and experiences in Africa. This could be due to gendered labour practices, socio-economic factors and/or intersectional differences such as income (Harris et al., 2016:1). Issues of water in Africa are therefore inextricably linked with issues of gender. 

Consequently, the posts on this blog throughout the following months will discuss issues of gender in relation to water throughout Africa, highlighting problems that both men and women face respectively. Topics will include issues related specifically to groundwater, agriculture and the collection of water as well as sanitation. There will be a focus on women’s issues in particular and this first post will outline the primary reasons as to why women are disproportionately impacted by water related issues in Africa and therefore why assessing water issues in Africa from the perspective of gender is so important.

Women and children are primarily responsible for the collection of water across Africa. This reduces the time women and children have available to engage in other activities such as generating income and attending school (Graham et al., 2016:3).

Girls often have to drop out of school to help out at home or because there are no separate toilet facilities which can guarantee them privacy. This is particularly important once they reach puberty. In fact, women and girls are often made to feel uncomfortable relieving themselves during the day (water.org, 2016) due to lack of access to toilets and so have to wait until nightfall, which can put them at risk of physical attack and sexual violence. Furthermore, traveling long distances to collect water in the day can also leave women and girls at risk of danger even in daylight (Graham et al., 2016:3).

Women are also primarily responsible for the management of domestic water use as they clean, cook and wash. Despite this, they are rarely consulted or involved in the planning and management of water. Women also play a dominant role in agricultural activities, though again they often experience problems due to limited access to land (Baker et al., 2015: 325). There is in fact evidence to show that gender equality and female empowerment are crucial for improving a country’s economy and considering water is essential to all economic activities, ensuring women have access and are involved in the decision-making process of water resource management is essential (Abrahams et al., 2010: 78). This will be discussed in greater detail in another blog post.

Therefore, issues of gender clearly need to be considered when discussing water issues or implementing any water resource management schemes, as this blog will discuss.

References:

Abrahams, Y., Mhlongo, S., & Napo, V. (2011). A gendered analysis of water and sanitation services policies and programmes in South Africa: 2006 – 2010. Agenda, 25(2), 71-79.

Baker, Cullen, Debevec, & Abebe. (2015). A socio-hydrological approach for incorporating gender into biophysical models and implications for water resources research. Applied Geography, 62, 325-338.

Graham, J., Hirai, M., Kim, S., & Vitzthum, V. (2016). An Analysis of Water Collection Labor among Women and Children in 24 Sub-Saharan African Countries. PLoS ONE, 11(6), PLoS ONE, 2016, Vol.11(6).

Harris, L., Kleiber, D., Goldin, J., Darkwah, A., & Morinville, C. (2016). Intersections of gender and water: Comparative approaches to everyday gendered negotiations of water access in undeserved areas of Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa. Journal of Gender Studies, 1-22.

Water.org. (2016). Women and Water: The Role of Gender & The Water Shortage, Water.org. [online] Available at: http://water.org/water-crisis/women-crisis/ [Accessed 13 Oct. 2016].