Water and Gender in Africa

 Physical and Human Causes of Water Stress: Sudan is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and if you revisit my previous blog, you will be able to see that Sudan, amongst many other African countries, is living under the conditions of being water stressed. According to the 2020 Global Climate Risk Report, North Kordofan is characterised by low levels of rainfall, extreme temperatures and drought (GIWPS, 2021) . Both rain-fed agriculture and pastoralism supports the livelihoods of over 80% of the population in North Kordofan (GIWPS, 2021) but due to the intensifying impacts of climate change, resources such as fresh water are being stressed. Although climate change is a contributory factor that is impacting the supply of water resources, water demand is expected to exceed water supply by 2030 (GIWPS, 2021) . Hence, population growth is a plausible explanation for water depletion as more water would be required to sustain livelihoods and households. Figure 1: Khartoum Abdulrahman

Women as Farmers: One of the most poorest and marginalised group of people in Sub-Saharan Africa are women and the poorest households are headed by women (The Montpellier Panel, 2012) . We often assume that the largest number of farmers are men, however this is untrue. In some African nations, women spend over 60% of their time on agricultural activities, and women contribute to roughly 50% of labour on farms (The Montpellier Panel, 2012) . Note a topic that we have discussed earlier in previous blogs. Women are responsible for water collection, household chores and the provision of food. Due to disproportionate amounts of time that they spend on such work, women find it difficult to be employed in a different sector, therefore explaining why more than 60% of women work in agriculture in Africa ( The Montpellier Panel, 2012).   Climate Change: Africa is a continent that will be facing the most severe impacts of climate change, where 9 out of the 10 most vulnerable countries are located

Welcome back to my third blog. Previously, I wrote about water collection and the dangers surrounding this undervalued task. Now, I will be moving on to another topic which is often avoided as it is seen as uncomfortable and embarrassing. However, I want us to probe this topic together as many young girls and women are suffering because of the lack of WASH facilities. In addition to this, a lack of awareness, knowledge and stigmatisation in communities are catalysing poor health and hygiene. Menstrual Hygiene and Management (MHM): According to both UNICEF and WHO, MHM is defined as the access to sanitary materials that be used during menstruation and the access to facilities to dispose of these materials in the most hygienic manner (Water Aid, 2018).  Globally, an alarming figure of 500 million women lack access to menstrual products and they lack access to WASH facilities to maintain MHM (The World Bank, 2022).                                                                          

                                                                 Introduction: Previously, I discussed how water collection steals the time of women and girls to participate in the labour market. This blog is a follow up on the previous blog post where I will discuss the dangers and issues surrounding water collection that women experience. There are 2 main gender-based violences and these are: 1. Experiencing sexual assault when fetching water and when using public spaces. 2. Experiencing domestic violence when returning home by male counterparts due to insufficient water and long periods away from the household. The Risk of Sexual Assault: On a daily basis, women risk their lives to collect water. Following the collection of water, women are forced to walk home with a forty pound Jerry Can (charity:water, 2022)  whilst traversing dangerous terrains, which can result in attacks and sexual assault. This occurs primarily in the middle of the night or in the early morning, where some wom

Highlighting the Issue: Water Collection Figure 1: A woman from carrying water from a well in Northern Kenya, Furlong (2016). Women in Africa are critical figures in the collection of water, but their work is still heavily undervalued. We tend to see images and videos of women collecting water and travelling long distances with a baby attached to their back on TV and on social media, but do we actually think about the implications for women's development? Do we understand the problems that women experience on a daily basis? We often take water for granted, as most of us can just get water from a working tap or buy a bottle of water at our local convenience store, but I want us to understand the struggles that women in Africa have to battle in their everyday lives.  Some Stats for You: Did you know that women and girls spend over 200 million hours collecting water? (UNICEF, 2016).  200 million hours amounts to 22,800 years (UNICEF, 2016) , and so imagine how much women could have ac