WOMEN STILL CARRY MOST OF THE WORLD'S WATER

WPS, 2012 

WHO FETCHES WATER?

Gendered norms and roles in the majority of places where water collection is a must, mean that it is the burden of women and girls to collect water as it is part of the daily household chores. Across 24 countries in Sub Saharan Africa, around 13.54 million women and 3.36 million girls were solely responsible for fetching water for their household where collecting water took over 30 minutes (Graham et, al, 2016). 

Geere Hunter & Jagal, in their studies of water collection across 6 different communities in rural South Africa, that the structure of water collection was as follows:

56% - Adult women 

31% - Girls 

10% - Boys 

3% - Adult men 

WOMEN'S LIVES ARE EXTREMELY INFLUENCED BY WATER COLLECTION

This structure is common across the majority of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and women's lives are extremely influenced by water collection. Furthermore, the average time spent getting water in SSA is usually much greater than the global average, due to factors like I have mentioned above of lack of piped supplies, particularly in rural areas and distance to both protected and unprotected sources of water. This leads to an extraordinary amount of time spent fetching water. Simply to get water for drinking, cooking, washing, farming and other needs, millions of hours each day are lots cumulatively, by women and girls venturing to water sources, waiting in queues for water and carrying the heavy loads back.

COST OF TIME

In Niger, the average female spends around 13 days or 321 hours per year walking to and from water source (Rodella, Sanoh, & Maiga, 2017). By the laws of average, that means there are a number of women and girls who spend both less and even longer than this collecting water. Higher water collection times tend to affect the poorest more severely. The poorest people in an area tend to live further from water resource and may not have the funds to access improved water sources or water vendors. In Ethiopia, for example, 64% of rural households depend on collecting water from surface water or springs. These supplies tend to have longer collection times and are highly variable depending on the time of year. Tucker et. al. (2014) gives the example of research by Cook et. al. showing that Oromia, Eithiopia, has an average water collection time of around 2 hours, which can soar to 9 hours per day during dry season as rainfall in Ethiopia is highly seasonal, with 70% of runoff generated from May/June to August. Although this example in rural Ethiopia seems extreme, there are similar findings where "pronounced climate variability, inadequate infrastructure and severe poverty frequently coincide" (Tucker, et. al, 2014:27). 

This time comes at a cost and could be time spent, resting, completing other domestic chores, in school or working. As mentioned in my opening paragraph of my very first blog post, think about the time spend each day and what you could be doing. In another study in Ethiopia young girls were asked about their domestic work, including their perception of water collection - nearly every girl asked stated that they believed it limited their ability to fully take part and succeed in school (IFPRI, 2010). Although male children in many areas do sometimes partake in water collection, it is a mainly female role and therefore boys have an advantage; the strain of household chores is a known reason as to why girls drop out or do not attend school. Being needed at home, is cited in many studies as enough of a reason preventing parents enrolling girls in school  in many countries in SSA which leads to a constant cycle of disadvantage for girls (Sorenson et al., 2011, Pommell et. al., 2018). In their study following a series of interviews with school teacher and students in Kenya, Jewitt and Ryley, (2014) quote household chores as one of the top three reasons for missing school.

"I am used to carrying the bucket on my head because it's easier. But it's really tough and gives me tooth and head pain"- Neny, age 8 in Madagascar  WaterAid (n.d.)

IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH

Not only does collecting water take time. It takes energy. Lets not forget the laborious element of this, particularly in dry season when it is important to conserve energy due to a lack of water and food. Women and young girls are physically carrying heavy water canisters for generally an average of 3.7 miles (or 6 km) across Africa and Asia (UN-WHO, 2010). The World Health Organization and United Nations a minimum 20 to 50 liters of water per person per day are needed to meet basic needs. Although this need is not always met, a substantial amount of water needs carried, over such distances, especially if woman have to walk through uneven, steep or busy areas, which can result in injury and strain (Caruso, 2017). Although in the past limited studies have been done into the physical impacts of water collection on health and energy, it has become more of a focal point over the last few years. Health studies have been compiled into pain with water carrying, particularly as, compared to men, woman and children generally have less of a physical ability to carry loads of water resulting in back, neck and joint pains that can have long-lasting effects (Pickering & Davis, 2012, Greer et. al, 2010). Greer, Hunter & Jagal's research in South Africa, I began using to illustrate the structure of water collection across men, women and children; describes the pain and fatigue children experience from water and how this increases with the distance traveled. This pain and fatigue experienced can also have an negative effect on children's schooling. 

I have only touched on the true implications of water collection, but as you can see women and girl's lives in SSA are impacted greatly by water collection. In my next post, I want to move onto look at other issues and risks involved with water collection, and then I hope to move into focusing on women and sanitation.