Africa, Women and Water: a Gender Disparity

Catherine Nakalembe is an assistant professor in the geographical sciences department at the University of Maryland and head of the Africa section of Nasa’s food and agricultural programme. She was awared the 2020 Africa Food Prize for her work using satellite imagery to help farmers and governments to increase food security. Nakalembe uses satellite data examining agriculture and weather patterns combined with information about the crops gathered on the ground to build a model that can recognise patterns and aid in making predictions. Her model can help to inform decisions regarding irrigation and fertiliser use and can forecast using satellite estimates of rain and temperature which are communicated to the farmers either by local-language texts, radio messages or passed on through agricultural extension workers. Governments can also use her model to help prevent famines in communities by planning for disaster response in case of crop failure or flash flooding. Her early research pr...

The papers I have looked at for this post are written or co-written by Patricia Kameri-Mbote, a female Professor of Law at the University of Nairobi. There is a large quantity of literature about Africa authored by white European researchers which can often be subjected to unconscious biases and prejudice. Thus, my aim here as a privileged white person, is to amplify the voices of African expertise. Patricia Kameri-Mbote, source: https://alumni.uonbi.ac.ke/2019/07/22/watch-the-full-public-presentation-of-doctor-of-laws-lld-thesis-by-prof-patricia-kameri-mbote/  There are many legal issues concerning a women’s right to land and resources in Southern and Eastern Africa. State, customary and religious law all play a role in dictating these rights. Kameri-Mbote argues that all forms of law must be engaged if they are to successfully challenge the gender imbalances when it comes to access and ownership of property. Women contribute over 80% of the farming workforce, Africa’s most domi...

Africa is more vulnerable than any other region to changing weather patterns ( BBC, 2019 ). West Africa is disproportionately affected by climate change due to the region’s susceptibility to drought and desertification as well as its dependence on subsistent agriculture. This affects the population’s access to food and safe water. Many women have already had to alter their food preparation as a result, meaning meals have become less nutritious ( Denton, 2002 ). In North Benin, both men and women have adapted to climate change by diversifying crops, changing their farming practices as well as changing their land use. However, more men that women have been able to employ these strategies as men have more control over land and equipment, leaving female farmers more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change ( Yegbemey et al, 2013 ).  Extreme events will become more frequent. Following flash floods in Lagos, women in low-income neighbourhoods were disproportionately impacted and ...

Social distancing and self-isolation are essential in slowing the spread of COVID-19. This is considerably more challenging without access to a household toilet. Shared facilities pose a greater risk as they are more likely to be a source of both airborne and contact exposures to the disease, especially if there is not adequate water and soap ( Caruso et al, 2020 ).  Who is at most risk? 32% of sanitation in urban Sub-Saharan Africa is shared. Women are disproportionately at risk due to more frequent use for meeting their own needs such as menstruation, but also for assisting dependents. Open defecation practices may increase to avoid the potential risks at facilities. However, this untreated human waste can spread deadly and chronic diseases in the environment ( Caruso et al, 2020 ). The pandemic has highlighted the importance of everyone having access to clean water to prevent the spread and has exposed how governments have continually neglected to invest in clean water, so...

This year’s World Toilet Day theme is sustainable sanitation and climate change which I will touch on more in an upcoming post. Today I want to assess gendered implications surrounding toilets. What have toilets got to do with gender? Firstly, much of the design, planning and management of public toilets are dominated by males, meaning the public toilet best suits the male body ( Nath, 2018 ). WaterAid put together a ‘Female-Friendly Public and Community Toilets’ guide for local authorities which aims to improve the understanding of female requirements concerning public toilets ( WaterAid, 2018 ). The video below summarises the content of this guide. Furthermore, Amnesty International analysed women’s experiences in Nairobi’s informal settlements, shedding light on the gendered implications of unsafe sanitation. Inadequate access to toilets increased women’s vulnerability to rape and gender-based violence partly due to the distance women must travel to access a toilet, especially at ni...

This week’s post looks at a key invention that allows water to be rolled along the ground in a container rather than carried on the head. This reduces the number of trips to a water source as well as alleviating the strain on the body. Wello designed their WaterWheel with women in mind.  Women spend a significant amount of time collecting water each day which could be used for more productive means.  They also noted that headloading can lead to chronic pain which in turn leads to serious complications during childbirth. Their WaterWheel has halved collection times and improved access to water (50%). Women and children have more time for work and education and consequently, a 20-100% increase in income was observed ( wello, 2020 ).  A video demonstrating the benefits of the WaterWheel The wheel underwent a two-year trial process across India in order to ensure that it met the needs of communities. It  has a 45L capacity meaning it is much more efficient than headloadi...