Water Supply and Gender

 Water Supply and Gender

-By Ecenur

Water is an essential substance for leading lives of individuals regardless of the gender. Forboth women and men in order to sustain their lives ,they need a water.However,In developing countries,people either suffer from water shortage or lack of enough sanitation.Therefore,it affects the quality of lives.In particular,water sanitation affects specifically women due to the fact that women take responsibility for collecting water which is often very time-consuming and difficult.In addition to this , women have specific hygiene needs during menstruation, pregnancy and bringing the child up unlike men.(UN,2021). Thus,water supply influences women's lives more than men ,facing severe challenges in their daily lives.In this essay,it will elaborate on how water supply and sanitation impacts the lives of

women. Women and girls have challenges due to accessing basic water sanitation and hygiene resources, including a lack of secure and private sanitation and of Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) resources.( Pouramin&Nagabhatla&Miletto,2020). In addition to this, Women and girls are the main users, and providers of water in their houses and are the guardians of household hygiene. If a water system falls into disrepair, women are the ones forced to takes long distances over many hours to meet their families’ water needs which forces them to take all the burden when there is water shortage or facing problems with sanitation.For instance, In Kenya in Kibera, women walk around 300 meters from their homes to use water supply making access dangerous for them and their children at night (WSP, 2010). Therefore,Water and Sanitation Program Report (2010) suggests that in order to tackle the water supply issue and sanitation ,there is an in need for severe objectives to eliminate this problem.One of the objectives suggested by WSP is having partnerships between local government, local women’s groups and the private sector in order to tackle with technical and financial barriers to women accessing water sanitation.In addition to this,WSP also advices to have sustainability for the operation and maintenance of public pay and use facilities, allowing women to play a role in management.For instance,In India, the Slum Sanitation Program, part of the larger World Bank Supported Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project which benefited around 400,000 people by providing access to sustainable water sanitation facilities within Mumbai.(WSP,2010).Therefore,the government and other NGOs should take part in order to eliminate or diminish the water supply and t sanitation issue. To sum up,water supply and sanitation impacts specifically women because of making women take responsibility for collecting water which is often very time-consuming and difficult.Women are primary users and suppliers of water in their houses and taking the responsibility of household hygiene. If a water system breaks down ,women are the ones forced to take long distances to meet their families water needs.Therefore,There should be multiple policies by local government and NGOs in order to make the water easily accessible thereby facilitating the lives of women in terms of water supply and sanitation.

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Bibliography

UN (2021) “Water and Gender”UN.Available at https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/gender/

Pouramin P.,Nagabhatla N.,Miletto M.(2020). “A Systematic Review of Water and Gender

Interlinkages: Assessing the Intersection With Health” Frontiers in Water .Available at

https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frwa.2020.00006

WSP.(2010). “Gender in Water and Sanitation”Water Sanitation Program.Available at

https://www.wsp.org/sites/wsp/files/publications/WSP-gender-water-sanitation.pdf