Water, Development and... Gender?

Welcome to my blog! This first entry kicks off a series of posts that will discuss issues surrounding water and development in Africa through a gendered lens. You might be confused about the relationship between these three things are, but I hope that as you read on, the co-dependencies between water and social systems become clearer. 

What does water have to do with gender?

As one of the world’s most precious resources, “water imposes an order and a rhythm on the social life of the family, the village, the region and the country”. Africa has the lowest proportion of national populations with access to safe water, but even so, this lack of access is further cut across gender fault lines. More often than not, women tend to disproportionately bear the burden of poor water supplies, due to their predominant roles in water management and sanitation, and their specific hygiene needs during biological processes of menstruation and pregnancy. 

Illustration featuring water-related roles women and children take on in rural KwaZulu-Natal,

such as caring for the unwell, household tasks like laundry and collecting water.

Source

Women and Development Policy: Shifting Approaches

Women were not included in policy discussions as development programme stakeholders for a long time. Early welfare oriented programs assumed benefits of families becoming more economically sustainable would trickle down to women as well. Such a lens saw women as passive recipients of development. 

It was finally in the 1970s that women began to be recognised as major actors in water management, hence the water sector was one of the first to acknowledge women’s potential contribution to development. Still, their involvement was largely seen as “smart economics” under the World Bank, as women were seen as central to development due to their involvement enhancing economic growth. However, this reading of gender equality prompted criticism: Gender equality matters should not solely be reduced to their economic value. There was a lack of consideration of power dynamics and women’s roles in development beyond economic growth. 

Today, the focus lies in mainstreaming gender, which involves building gender-specific concerns into each development policy made, and not pigeonholing them as separate, individual policies. For instance, not only is there a dedicated SDG which focuses on Gender Equality (SDG 5), gender mainstreaming is seen in SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation, with target 6.2 “paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations”.

“Africa is a country”

I also hope to pay specific attention to my positionality when representing ideas and information about the connections between water, development and gender in African countries. Binyavanga Wainaina penned a particularly insightful article that sheds light on this. The satirical essay highlights ways in which Africa tends to be generalised and referred to as a homogenous whole, with Africans all portrayed as savages in a ‘backward’ continent, that ironically is also depicted through a romanticised lens, rich with imagery of the ‘safari’ and ‘wilderness’. In reality, Africa is made up of 54 countries and 900 million people, and is one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the world. 

Along this line, women in Africa should also not be defined as a homogenous interest group. Although the dominance of the patriarchy and gender relations are largely universal, an understanding of the various positions and roles women take in society must be situated in their specific cultural and historical context. Too often, the singular narrative of women as submissive is accepted as factual. Iyam explores the ways Agwagune women in Nigeria attain and define empowerment in their own terms and contexts, for instance. Therefore, I endeavour to refrain from letting such generalisations and stereotypes influence my discussions in these blog posts. 

Going Forward… 

Gender-sensitive approaches present a wealth of opportunities to target the challenges resulting from access to water. In my next few entries, I hope to further explore the gendered nature of water in various African countries, and discuss how the varying African cultures and gender relations influence water management and use.