A study by the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) concluded that the full participation of women in water and sanitation projects led them to be more sustainable and successful (IRC, 1998).
The Becheve Women
In 1999, the Nigerian Conservation Fund
established a Watershed Management Project on the Obudu plateau. The local
Becheve women were elected to be on the management committee, subsequently
involving them in the creation and maintenance of a water reservoir. As a
result, time collecting water was reduced, increasing the time available for
both girls and women to attend school. A 45% reduction in cases of diarrhoea
was observed and the Becheve women were also able to resolve a conflict between
the Fulani tribesmen over access to water, granting them their fair share (UN, 2006). Empowering
and including women in decision-making is crucial as this enables the key issue
of gender to be integrated into water policies and programmes.
Women in Politics
In 2005, there were 40 female ministers of
water or environment across the world (UN, 2006). For example,
the current Minister of State for the Environment in Uganda is female -
Beatrice Anywar Atim (MWE, 2020). A challenge
with women's participation in water governance is that often, it has become a
formal exercise enforced by quotas (FAO, 2016). Power
imbalances cannot be sufficiently addressed by simply 'adding' women to
processes. Furthermore, The Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda has ten
strategic objectives listed on their website. I found it disappointing that the
goal, ‘to promote gender and equity considerations’ was listed last (MWE,
2020). Whilst it is encouraging that the Ugandan Ministry has
recognised the importance of gender inequality, by placing this objective last,
it implies that it is not as important as the other objectives when in fact,
promoting ‘gender and equity considerations’ is central to achieving all of
their goals. For example, increasing the water supply coverage in rural areas
will be significantly more successful if women are involved in the ongoing
implementation of this policy at all levels.
Meaningful Participation?
Hemson argues that women’s
participation in water committees in rural areas is purely ‘tokenism’ as effective
participation is hindered by the socio-economic setting as well as existing gender
imbalances. He looks at participation in rural water committees in South Africa
and concludes that men hold the powerful positions in these committees and
women are present to fill quotas and occupy less powerful positions. Reasons for
this include lower educational standards of women resulting in a lack of confidence
in their abilities. Traditional culture does not always allow for greater
female involvement and although many women do want to be involved in decision-making,
they tend to agree with patriarchal notions of women’s inferiority to men. The biggest
barrier to female empowerment is this attitude and a lack of confidence, which is
exacerbated in male-dominated situations.
Hemson proposes certain solutions such as the provision of adult education for women in rural areas as well as gender sensitivity training for members of water committees. Empowerment training will enable women to be more confident and men to be more supportive of female participation (Hemson, 2002).
Therefore, women's difficulties in accessing water can be addressed by increasing female participation in decision-making processes, but this can only succeed if it is meaningful. Whilst progress has been made to close the gender gap, there is still much more to be done. The continued advocation for women's and men's direct and significant involvement at all levels is critical in closing this gap.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a very insightful post, thank you for sharing. I completely agree that often economic factors determine who has access to safe water, however I think it is important not to disregard the physical availability of water when looking into this topic. I was also wondering if you had considered that fact that although female education and empowerment is vital to reduce gender disparity, the education of men in the wider community as well as in the water committees is equally as important as room needs to be made for those empowered voices to be heard?
ReplyDeleteYes, I do think that the education of men in the wider community is just as important. Whilst gender sensitivity and empowerment training will reduce gender disparity in these water committees, much needs to be done to address inequalities at the community level. Male education in the wider community concerning these issues is a key solution which I touch on in my most recent post on sanitation. However, this needs to be done in a certain way. It is important to not focus on blaming these men for upholding values that perpetuate gender inequalities as this can increase defensiveness and thus reduce the likelyhood of cooperation. The focus needs to be on looking forward and how men can play a role in making postive change.
DeleteI completely agree, this is such an important and interesting topic of discussion.
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