Across Africa, water plays a significant part in the role of women. Men and women have been shown to use water differently, in Zimbabwe, women are playing more roles in water use and are often the’ users, managers and guardians’ of domestic water and hygiene (Makoni et al., 2004). In regards to sanitation, women’s lack of access can often have deadly consequences, and make them vulnerable to the risk of rape and attack (Mara et al., 2010).
So, why are women so often left out of the water and sanitation decision-making? In Uganda, although much of their policy approaches appear to be gender-sensitive, women have not been fully engaged in the debate on water and sanitation (Ebila, 2006). There is a push to change this, however, as the Directorate of Water Development (DWD) in 2003 introduced ‘gender-mainstreaming’ into into its future plans. The DWD began to acknowledge two main reasons for this new approach:
- Water usage in communities is affected by the gender division of labour, which to a large extent is the social construction of each community; and
- The development objective of the water sector is to improve “living conditions for the population of Uganda through better access to improved sustainable water and sanitation related services with a special focus on the poorer members of society” (DWD, 2003; Ebila, 2006). In Uganda, and indeed in most of Africa, the majority of the poorest of society are women.
To implement the core beliefs of this approach, the DWD managed to enforce a 50% mandatory level of the percentage of women on water and sanitation committees at village level. As of yet, the DWD has few women staff members, but they are planning to encourage more women to join with a zero tolerance policy to sexual harassment. These approaches are beginning to get more women to reach for leadership roles, which is vital to break-down gender stereotypes. The question is, however, whether a similar scheme of gender-mainstreaming can be rolled out across the rest of Africa where there are gender imbalances in policy making.
Hi Celia! A very interesting post!
ReplyDeleteI believe that having women in positions of authority is an intrinsically progressive move, not only because it helps puts women's rights and demands at the forefront, but it also shows that women are intelligent decision makers capable of participating in important discussions. Considering the importance of women in the use of water in the domestic sphere, a push towards more female decision makers should have more women's opinions heard. Do you think there are any other initiatives which could be taken to make women's voices heard when it comes to water provision?
Hi Shruti!
DeleteI think really the main things that can be done in terms of gender-mainstreaming are giving women more authority and power, and listening to ordinary women's concerns. I think, particularly regarding sanitation, that women's needs are often overlooked simply because they are rarely consulted (perhaps not deliberately). Education of women, so that their opinions are respected is important, but of course this demonstrates the reflexive nature of water, sanitation and gender inequalities as women do not receive a proper education if they spend so long collecting water everyday! The solution is very complex, but a shift in attitudes towards women's opinions needs to be tackled.