Introduction

Representations of Africa

Wainaina’s essay addresses how Africa is habitually depicted in the popular media (Wainaina, 2005). His use of satire is particularly effective as it emphasizes the incorrect and ignorant way in which ideas and information around Africa are represented. These portrayals often characterise Africa as uncivilised and corrupt, rife with starvation and as one country, even though it is the most genetically diverse continent in the world (Spain, 2009). 

Taken from https://granta.com/how-to-write-about-africa/

His essay also gives rise to an important issue concerning performative allyship. ‘An ally is someone from a nonmarginalized group who uses their privilege to advocate for a marginalized group’. Whereas performative allyship is when someone acts like an ally in a way that ‘isn’t helpful or that actively harms the group’(Phillips, 2020).This often involves something called ‘virtue signalling’ whereby people express their outrage on an issue to demonstrate their moral correctness and good character (Jordan and Rand, 2019). 

I acknowledge that as a white person I have benefitted from the oppression of people of colour. My intention with this blog is to improve my own and others’ understanding of racial injustices concerning water and gender in Africa.

 Water and Africa

The UN Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 aims to, ‘By 2030, achieve universal, equitable access to safe water and sanitation for all’ (UN, 2015). This goal is particularly pertinent in Africa as the continent has the lowest proportions of national populations with access to safe water (WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 2017).

      Figure 4 taken from https://www.unwater.org/publications/whounicef-joint-monitoring-program-water-supply-sanitation-hygiene-jmp-2017-update-sdg-baselines/ 

      Africa stands out as the continent with the lowest use of basic (an 'improved source within 30 minutes’ round trip to collect water') drinking water services. Furthermore, of the 59 million people that still collect drinking water directly from surface water sources, 58% lived in Sub-Saharan Africa (WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 2017).

     Gender and Water - What's the Link? 

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the lack of clean water and adequate toilets. Gender inequality is also evident in water collection, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa as the graph below demonstrates.

Graph taken from https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/gender.shtml

In many countries, collecting water is considered to be a woman’s job. Women and girls spend hours each day walking long distances to collect water which in turn, negatively impacts their education. Furthermore, many will not attend school when they menstruate due to a lack of suitable facilities. Women who do not have access to a private toilet prefer to go out at night and as a result, are more at risk of sexual assault and animal attacks. (WaterAid, 2020). Resultant poor sanitation practices can lead to groundwater pollution and following the consumption of this contaminated water, the incidence of waterbourne disease increases (Gaye and Tindimugaya, 2018). The infographic below illustrates further the inequalities women face as well as some postives resulting from increased gender equality. 

Infographic taken from https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/gender.shtml 

Thus, in order to meet SDG 6.1, it is necessary to understand the complex relationship between water and gender in Africa. Solutions should not only involve and empower women and girls, but also engage men in changing their attitudes and the established power imbalances. 

Over the next coming weeks, I aim to explore in more detail the many issues that I have briefly touched upon in this post. I hope to demonstrate the importance of involving women and girls in decision-making as well as the role of climate change and COVID-19 which exploit many of the existing problems.