Introduction to my blog

‘Women are intrinsically involved and effected by water’ -Lakshmi Puri, 2012 (Deputy executive director of UN women)

Hi welcome to my blog ‘Gender and Water: The Case Study of Africa’. This quotation above, expressed by Puri at the closing convention of World Water Week in Stockholm, concisely encompasses what I will be exploring within the blogging series- women and their intrinsic relationship with water.

In this opening post, I will explain my motivations for examining this gendered water relationship. I will then examine the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to this and contextualise the gender-water relationship.

Why Gender?

This stems from my passion for social equality and inclusion. Gender equality is a ‘fundamental human right’, yet this discrepancy still exists.  I am a firm believer in the fact that the most effective socioeconomic development can be heavily influenced by gender equality. This is because, half the world’s population is girls accounting for half the human potential (UN n/d). Yet gender inequality means this potential is not maximised. By addressing gender and the associated inequality, this allows for the fulfilment of human potential, not only in terms of water but in all other aspects, allowing for the most effective development.

On a personal level, I chose a gender stance in terms of water and development in Africa, because talking to my grandmother about her experiences of growing up in Uganda, and how it varied from her brothers', gave me increased motivation to explore this area.

An important point to highlight when talking about Africa, is to be aware of any stereotyped notions that one may have. There is an unintended desire to see Africa as a homogenised environment: As Wanaina (2006) satirically elaborated there is a tendency to ‘treat Africa as if was one country….it is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands…and tall thin people who are starving’. 

Hearing stories about my grandparent’s upbringing and life in Uganda and Kenya has challenged any stereotyped preconceptions I may have regarding Africa as a continent. Thus, it is important to acknowledge that Africa is indeed a continent with diversity in many forms.

The SDGs, Water and Gender

SDGs are considered to be ‘Blueprints for better change’(UN n/d).  But to what extent have they been valuable at addressing the gender discrepancy and safe water access? This is something I will explore throughout my blog.

The Images below emphasise institutional recognition of issues associated with both gender and water with SDG5 (achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls) and SDG6 (Access to water and sanitation for all):

Background: water and gender in Africa

Men and women have an extremely different experiences with water in terms of access, uses, knowledge, governance- and this is seen at a household to an international level (Harris et al 2017). Women in general lack independence, access and control over water Upadhayay (2003), all 3 of which play hand-in-hand with each other, emphasising the roles in play surrounding water have become highly gendered.

Within Sub-Saharan Africa, 40 billion hours are spent annually for water collection in which 2/3 of women are burdened with this responsibility according to UNICEF (Kameri-Mbote and Kariuki 2015). This is further affected by the inaccessibility, inadequacy, limited quantity and quality of water.

 The impacts of this are severe, causing time poverty,  defined as not having a sufficient amount of discretionary time (Kalenkoski and Himerick 2013). In the case of female water collectors in Africa, the time spent collecting water prevents them from attending school or having a job to earn an income. And the females who manage to go school, may drop out when they start their periods because of inadequate toilet facilities and proper sanitation. Furthermore, the inaccessibility to water means that women have to walk through potentially very dangerous routes where they can be susceptible to sexual assault and harassment (Musembi 2015).

 Moving Forward
What I mentioned so far only scratches the surface of the role which gender plays in safe and sustainable water access. But I am excited to research deeper into it. Thus, in my next post I intend to contextualise the water situation in Africa, by examining water scarcity and the groundwater availability.  From this I will explore from a gender perspective (with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa), the issues which arise as a result of this, including water collection, sanitation and participation etc. and the gendered implications. I aim to explore these aspects with reference to the SDGs.