Areas across Africa, including Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), are not connected to water infrastructure such as water pipes. This means that about two-thirds of people living in SSA must leave their homes to collect water. This is due to limited water infrastructure, investment, and water sources. This forces individuals and communities to travel long distances and wait in lines to access water sources. Women and children are often the ones to bear the burden of this responsibility as they collect and manage the use of water.
In the last blog, we explored the role of culture in assigning
gender-based roles. The responsibility of water collection is a further example
of this as it manifested through patriarchal cultural norms. This blog, however, will highlight the extent to which the collection and use of water is a gendered issue whilst
also exploring the consequences of this burden on young girls and women.
Impacts of water collection
Although water fetching is physically and mentally demanding and requires
considerable time and energy, the impacts and complications caused by this burden have not been researched in depth. Instead, physical injuries are treated as collateral rather than an alarming consequence of the limited water
infrastructure in SSA. Anecdotes of exhaustion and dehydration (due to the lengthy distances which must
be travelled), cuts and infections (due to the poor quality of the roads), and
health complications (due to the weight of carrying heavy water containers) are
only a few of the many impacts caused to women through the process of
collecting water. These gendered disparities are further
enhanced by
the infrastructures in place. In the few instances that men assist with the
collection of water, usually when their wives are pregnant or when the water situation is severe, men will use animals or bicycles to carry and transport the water.
Besides this, we should also consider the time women spend collecting water. Women are often forced to choose between collecting water and performing other tasks such as caring for their children, performing domestic duties, assisting with farm work, or focusing on their careers. This is also known as time poverty. These trade-offs add to the stress that women may experience.
The burden of collecting water is also experienced by children, in particular young
girls. This often occurs when mothers need additional support, such as when they are pregnant, have young kids who need
looking after or need support carrying additional volumes of water. In fact, girls under the age of 15 are twice as
likely as boys to be the family member responsible for fetching water.
This is harmful to their development, and many will be reluctant to report injuries or diseases they have contracted while carrying water due to the social stigma associated with them. Additionally,
this also affects young girls’ education as many are forced to miss days or
drop out altogether as they struggle
to find the time to do both.
This video was created by the UN and follows Aysha, a 13-year-old
girl, for a day. Here you see the extent to which time poverty is impacting young
people, as their days are consumed by water fetching.
Measuring water collection
It is essential that scholars and researchers understand the impacts
of water collection on developing communities specifically women and children.
To do this efficiently, metrics must be set to measure and compare the experience
of water collection. Solely analysing the distance from someone home to the
nearest water source is not enough. Instead, time-taken, the number of trips taken,
and the quality of the water should be considered. For instance, distance and time are not comparable as speed will be dependent on their physical strength
and ability, the road quality or weather conditions . Also, it is
easy to forget that many will need to take multiple trips to collect enough
water to last them for the whole day.
It is clear to see that water collection is gendered in terms of who bares the responsibility and suffers the consequences. It is important that water collection is acknowledged as being problematic and should be used as an indicator to access safe water. Opportunities for development through the improvement in water access is imporant but are unlikely to occur unless the burden on women of fetching water is recognised and reduced. Until this happens, water collection will continue to remain a significant barrier to the development and empowerment of women.
Hey! Great post - really well written and really informative. I was wondering if you have come across any initiatives or plans to reduce this gruelling burden women have to face?
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe thank you for taking the time to read my post and for your question. As you can see the burden and issues caused by water collection are vast and complex. Therefore, there is no quick fix or solution. Despite this, I did come across an innovative solution called 'The Hippo Roller' (https://hipporoller.org/). This is a social enterprise organisation which have created a cylinder water holder that can be pushed along the ground rather than carried. Innovations like these are small-scale in terms of resolving the greater issue, but they help reduce the physical impacts that carrying water containers has on the head, neck and spine. However, even this can be limited depending on the terrain and land it is used it.
DeleteHi Anda! I love this post and the way it homes in on the often forgotten impacts of water on young girls and women. You mention that the way in which we measure water collection needs to change. Have you come across any examples of alternative measurements and metrics which we could use instead? I look forward to your response!
ReplyDeleteHi Donita, this is an interesting part of this topic because for data to be representative, the metrics used need to be inclusive of all the different impacts people may face. There is a debate regarding what specifically should be the focus of measurement as well as the best indicators to employ for regular monitoring. Many scholars mentioned that data will claim that it will take an individual X amount of minutes to collect water, but it will not acknowledge the fact that this represents one journey. As the video above shows, people may take multiple trips, and this needs to be reflected in the data. Therefore, I think this is something that should be included along with time and distance.
DeleteHi Anda! What an informative post about the infrastructure of water and water collection. How do you think that water collection could be made easier and less of a burden for women? What do you think should be addressed first? Looking forward to your response :)
ReplyDeleteHi Wiktoria, thank you for reading my post and for your comment. Solutions can take different forms and of course what is prioritised will be subjective. I think solutions should be specific to the country and if possible to the community. Firstly, women need to be given a voice to allow them to express what they think is of greater urgency and what they would like to be improved first. I found it particularly challenging to read about children's experiences collecting water so I would like to see more being done to address this. The practical side of finding the best way to do this is more challenging, but as long as local people are listened to and heard, solutions can be implemented with a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches.
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