As water is vital to human life, water management is an issue that concerns all people equally. However, water resource management has historically been afflicted by a gender imbalance. The differences in the ways women and men are involved with water reflect deeply rooted, systemic power relations that have significant implications for the ways in which the resource is handled. For example, across the Global South, women are responsible for water for the household. Yet, as the resource becomes commodified and systems of delivery more complex, men take over as the decision makers and resource managers.
The need to correct this gender imbalance has been at the centre of policy dialogues since 1992 when Dublin Principle 3 declared that “women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water." In the ensuing 24 years, a great deal of action has been undertaken toward mainstreaming gender in water management at all levels of society. However, with the emergence of the so-called Water, Energy and Food (WEF) Nexus, men, machines and money have reaffirmed their central place in major water decisions.
Methodology
One of the key aims in our study is to present a human-scale nexus that involves water, health and gender, illustrating how gender sensitivity in water policy and planning can have a positive impact on millions of people, often at very little cost. Since the relationship between water and gender has different effects at different governmental levels, any review of the problem must necessarily incorporate examples from global/supranational, national, local and household levels. An analysis conducted in this fashion is advantageous, because it clearly highlights the ways in which water issues are addressed at different socio-political levels, as well as how they are impacted by various social and governmental structures. Issues of formal and informal water management institutions, water politics, and localized and domestic water management regimes are addressed using case examples in order to illustrate the scope and significance of the challenges and opportunities related to gender and water.
Outcomes
Within the Global South, women often face obstacles in accessing water at the expense of their health. Women have a unique experience with health issues due to the combinations of biological differences and existing systems of power relations. Women’s reproductive health care and menstruation are experiences that are uniquely feminine and have direct links to water and sanitation. Women across the Global South are often constrained by social structures that define acceptable feminine behaviour. For example, social pressures may relegate women to defecating only before dawn and after nightfall to maintain privacy. As such, women may drink and eat less during the day in order to avoid the need to urinate or defecate, which can lead to other health problems.
One of the most pressing concerns facing women and girls is having access to water and sanitation services to manage menstruation in a hygienic and dignified manner. While water, sanitation and health (WASH) programs have acknowledged the link between access to water and sanitation and achieving health development goals, women and girls have often been excluded from decision-making processes leading to programs of action. As a result, millions of women and girls struggle to realize their rights to gender equality, education, health, and dignity. WaterAid actions in India provide an example of how to do things better. In 2007, WaterAid site visits led to the realization that women and girls in rural India were being denied access to communal sanitation services during menstruation, and that there was a lack of feminine hygiene products. Consequently, WaterAid collaborated with regional non-governmental organization partners to assess local beliefs, behaviours, and the prevalence of diseases related to poor menstrual hygiene. The results of the assessment concluded that approximately 14% of women reported suffering from menstrual infections, 89% of women used cloth for the absorption of menstrual blood, and the majority of respondents gave responses that reflected a lack of correct information that was influencing how menstruating women could manage their hygiene. WaterAid then worked to develop community strategies that attempted to reduce the stigma surrounding menstruation and raised the level of discussions on menstruation while also empowering women to access community self-help groups that help women learn about their unique health and sanitation needs. This initial work led to all participating NGOs to formally include menstruation in their WASH efforts. WaterAid has since integrated menstrual hygiene within their Indian programs at various levels while targeting different groups including men and boys. This WaterAid initiative is an exemplary model of how to address menstrual hygiene within WASH projects. WaterAid was effective in opening up a dialogue that improved women’s health while working to reduce the stigma and shame that has been associated with menstruating women and girls.
Women also face serious health issues while accessing water for household use. Carrying heavy water jugs over long distances from an early age can lead to serious curvature of the spine, as well as chronic back pain and headaches. While these physical health issues are well documented, the emotional distress is less well known. Studies have shown that women suffer psychosocial distress due to drought-affected water security. Women facing water security challenges, such as having to travel farther and farther to fetch less water, report more symptoms of common mental disorders. These physical and social disorders are often suffered in silence due to gender norms. The construction of women as domestic labourers and caretakers has resulted in their being relegated to these tasks and largely excluded from any formal management or leadership positions. Men are also defined by the construction and dissemination of normative gender roles. For example, since men and boys are largely defined as breadwinners, where water access, use and management involves capital, this is regarded as their domain. As such, men overwhelmingly remain responsible for many of the large decisions made at each socio-political level – from the household to the nation, from the donkey cart to the mega-dam.
Conclusions
Clearly, there are important differences in how men and women are expected to use and manage water. Women have historically, culturally, and institutionally been defined in relation to men in a way that has negatively influenced their ability to access and manage water for their optimal use.
Fortunately, there are opportunities to change these problems. At the global, national, and local levels there are interventions that are effectively creating systemic change that can be adapted and replicated to other contexts. The example of WaterAid’s menstruation intervention in India demonstrates how one good idea can be multiplied. Ultimately, there is potential for sustainable global change in the gendered dynamics of water management with a comprehensive action plan and understanding of what has worked. Incorporating a gender-sensitive analysis to water management policies can improve how women, and men, interact with water. At a minimum, it is our hope that a focus on water, gender and health can influence decisions made in regard to the WEF nexus.
Leo A., E. Lougheed, L. A. Swatuk, and J. Fatch (2018). The social flows of water in the Global South: Recognizing the water-gender-health ‘nexus’. In: Swatuk L., Cash C. (eds) Water, Energy, Food and People Across the Global South. International Political Economy Series.
Contact: Larry Swatuk, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development
For more information about the Water Institute, contact Amy Geddes.
