Water Management

 

Gender Mainstreaming:

"The number of women representatives in water projects and boards should not be the sole goal, neither the ultimate objective of gender mainstreaming. Having women in planning bodies alone doesn’t guarantee that gender issues are mainstreamed; it is a much wider process. The presence of women in water projects won’t radically influence the impact of the project if the women have not been included in the design phase and if the projects have not integrated all gender needs and set objectives that are gender-sensitive and beneficial for all" (UNEP-DHI, 2021).

Gender mainstreaming is often misunderstood, and as articulated in the quote above, it is much more than creating equality between men and women, including more women in development projects and increasing the number of women in leadership roles. Gender mainstreaming involves "the integration of gender perspectives in preparation, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies,"(European Institute for Gender Equality, 2023). In order for an issue to be mainstreamed, in relation to water management, we need to understand the water needs of women, and only then will we be able to see better water management when different needs are incorporated into the design and implementation phases. Women are responsible for:

1) Provision of water through water collection.

2) Provision of food through subsistence farming.

       3) Ensuring that there is enough water for everyone's personal hygiene, cooking and cleaning.

By understanding the role of women in water provision and food production, it creates a clearer picture as to why women need, for example, access to land rights, and why they should have a voice in water management projects. Yes, cultural reforms should occur and yes, legislation and policies should advocate equal rights for both men and women, but this change and transition will not occur straight away as it is a big societal change. In order for such change to happen, we need to focus on the foundation of water management projects, for example by looking at the different needs of men and women in regard to water and this could be in the form of including women in talks and asking them about their daily water-related tasks. This can then help inform water-related policies, which can enable access to water and land rights.

Conclusion:

I hope my blog helped develop some of your ideas about water and gender in Africa and most importantly, I hope my blogs were of interest! By blogging about the struggles of African women, I wanted to bring to light about some of the opportunities that we may take for granted. In particular, we are very fortunate that we don't need to go through a difficult day to collect water. Of course, everyone has their own battles and hurdles that they need to overcome, but the battle of providing water and food for one's household through a jungle of dangers and societal challenges is an extremely stressful experience. 












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