Week1- A general introduction to women and water supplies

'Water is a real problem. If I want more water, I will have to wake up at 5 am. To collect four buckets will take me about eleven hours (from 5 am to 4 pm). We queue, especially on Fridays if the livestock is being watered because then I must fill my bucket and empty it into the cattle trough before I can collect one for myself. We also queue when the dip cattle are queuing. I do my laundry after every two weeks.’----Mrs. M., Nkubini Dip  (Cleaver, 1998)

 The interview quoted above expresses how time and labour consuming is for rural women in Africa to fetch and purify water.  Indeed, water collection can be very laborious as some water sources are located far away from the household. If queuing is needed, a single collection of water can take up to hours or even an entire day.

Women in African communities are often responsible for domestic activities which include water collection for domestic usage. This was the result of the traditions of African communities. Today, women are left with more responsibilities within the households as men leave to search for high pay jobs in urban cities. (Sangodoyin, 1993)

The time and labour consuming is a particular issue for poor households as this poses labour constraints onto the households, limiting women's ability, in particular, to use their time on other more productive work. While wealthier families can hire labour or use cattle (A donkey cart for example) to transport water, families with low income rely greatly on adult women. Typical poor household constitutes of a family with large numbers of small children and few abled adults. The structure of such family puts pressure on the adult women of the household to fetch water.

Hence, setting up pumps for easy access of water can be essential in freeing women from the time-consuming strenuous activity of collecting water for domestic use. This also explains why in regions of Africa, women are more active than men in water development projects. In Kenya, Getechah concluded that women are active participants of 'digging trenches, laying pipes and the movement of construction materials' (Getechah, 1980).In Nigeria, women's association are active in installing pumps for the delivery of water and have expressed more eagerness in the maintenance of rural water systems as compared to their male counterparts. Although, water development projects are not the savior of household poverty since poverty is a complex situation involving the lack of multiple resources, the enforcement of these projects can effectively improve the labour division structure within the household and reduce the pressure on adult women.

Note: the issue around gender and water supply is much more complex, revolving around education, awareness of good water sources and how to purify water, economic constraints, labour availability and labour structure within households, methods of acquiring and preserving water, etc. These issues will be discussed later on.

Reference:

 Cleaver, F. (1998). Incentives and informal institutions: Gender and the management of water. Agriculture and Human Values, 15, pp.347-360.

Getechah, W. (1980). The role of women in rural water development in Kenya. Proceedings of a Workshop on Training, Zomba, Malawi, 5th-12th August, pp.85-88.

Sangodoyin, A. (1993). Women's role in rural water supply and development: Trends and expectations in Nigeria. The Environmentalist, 13(4), pp.255-261.