Water and Gender in Africa

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).