Gender perspectives on water resources and sanitation

Supporting document provided to the Commission on Sustainable Development by the Inter-Agency Working Group SDC

I. Introduction: Gender, water and sanitation

Over the next 20 years, fresh water will become a critical strategic resource, essential to sustain life and achieve sustainable development. Control over water will become a source of power and the key to economic development, and water itself will be one of the root causes of socio-political pressure. Global commitments made on water and sanitation do not specifically address the equal division of power, work, access and control of water resources between women and men. It is important to make gender perspectives a central aspect of the planning process to ensure that the specific needs and concerns of women and men of all social groups are taken into account in the development, use and management of water resources and sanitation.

In many cultures, women are primarily responsible for water use and management, hygiene and health at the household level. Over the years, women have accumulated an impressive reservoir of environmental wisdom, becoming those who can find water, teach children about hygiene, and understand the impact of poor sanitation on health. At the same time, women and girls are often forced to walk for hours each day to fetch water, while men can rarely be expected to perform such tasks. A 2002 UNICEF study of rural households in 23 Sahel countries found that a quarter spent 30 minutes to an hour each day collecting and transporting water, and 19% spent an hour or more. With closer water sources, women have higher self-esteem, are less harassed, and girls attend school better—three things that were mentioned spontaneously by people in Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, and India in another study.1 So far, all too often decisions about the design and location of hydraulic structures are made without the participation of women water users who have the most power to do so. Despite their numbers and prominent roles and responsibilities in water and hygiene, women often have no voice or choice in decisions about what types of services they need or receive.

Gender discourse centers on the provision, management and protection of our limited water resources and the protection of health through the provision of adequate sanitation and hygiene. The importance of involving both women and men in water and sanitation management has been recognized at the global level at least since the UN Water Conference in Mar del Plata, 1977, and during the International Decade of Water Supply and Sanitation, 1981-1990. The Dublin Principles, endorsed by the International Conference on Water and the Environment in 1992, recognized that “Women play a central role in the provision, management and conservation of water.” The document called for the recognition of women's participation as providers and users of water and as custodians of the home in institutional arrangements for water development and management.

Dublin was followed by the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992, which highlighted approaches to Freshwater Management in Chapter 18 of Program 21. Chapter 18 contains numerous references to participation, capacity development, education and the mobilization of women as decision-makers and managers of water resources and sanitation. Principle 20 of the Rio Declaration states: “Women play a vital role in environmental management and development. Therefore, their active participation is essential in achieving sustainable development.” In the Johannesburg Implementation Plan for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002 (par. 24), governments agreed to “support the development of water and sanitation infrastructure capacity and service development, ensuring that these infrastructure and services... are gender sensitive.”

Based on all these commitments, at the end of the International Year of Freshwater, in December 2003, the General Assembly declared the International Decade of Action “Water for Life” from 2005 to 2015. Resolution 58/217 emphasizes that “the objectives of the Decade are to strengthen the focus on water issues... and the implementation of water programs and projects, while striving to ensure the participation and involvement of women in water development.”

Adhering to these principles requires determining what people (customers) want, how they will contribute, and how they will participate in decisions about the types and levels of services, operations, and repairs. Understanding the different roles of men and women when planning a project will increase the chances of its sustainability.

II. Priority issues for women and men

A. Equitable access to water supply

Access to safe drinking water is a basic human right and is important in achieving gender equality (freeing women and girls from spending long hours fetching water), sustainable development and poverty eradication. Locating water sources close to home will reduce the distance women and girls have to walk to fetch water, leaving them time to do other jobs, including studying, caring for children, growing food crops and making a profit. The latter includes the construction and management of hydraulic and sanitary structures.

Having water near your home significantly improves your nutrition and health. Carrying water over long distances threatens health, especially during puberty and pregnancy. During daily water collection, women are at risk of drowning (floods) and being attacked. General Comment 15 on water rights, adopted in November 2002 by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, states: “The human right to water means sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically and financially accessible water resources for personal and domestic use.” It is important that both women and men participate in decision-making processes about the provision, location and technology of water and sanitation facilities in the community and household.

In developing countries, water is a key element for sustainable development and poverty eradication. In the meantime, at the end of 2002, 1.1 billion people or 18% of the world's population do not have access to clean drinking water, while 2.6 billion or 40% of the world's population do not have access to modern sanitation services. At the Millennium Summit in 2000, Heads of State committed to halve the number of people unable to obtain or afford clean drinking water by 2015. This Millennium Development Goal (MDG) was supported by a similar sanitation goal, which was part of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) and was endorsed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002. While the water and sanitation goals may seem ambitious to some, they are quite modest - these goals do not include installing running water in every kitchen or toilet in every home. The WHO definition of access to water varies with location, but on average it is 20 liters per person per day within a one kilometer walk from home.

Women in Africa can walk six kilometers a day in search of water, spending at most eight hours collecting water. [2] In many countries, girls are often tasked with carrying 15-20 liters of water home from a source. Consequently, access to water and sanitation is associated with the time it takes girls to go to school and can be a reason for their non-attendance. Moreover, in many developing countries, girls are often prohibited from going to schools that do not have latrines, out of concern for their privacy and modesty. [3] Therefore, access to fresh water and sanitation not only improves family health, but also enables girls to go to school and women to use their time more productively than fetching water. It is estimated that the investment required to achieve the MDGs on safe drinking water and basic sanitation will require additional investment of approximately $30 billion per year, double what is already spent in countries where many people currently lack access. [4]

Examples

In Morocco, the World Bank's Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project aimed to reduce the burden on girls "who have traditionally been involved in fetching water" in order to improve their school attendance. In the six provinces where the project was based, it was found that girls' school attendance increased by 20% over four years, partly attributed to the fact that girls spent less time fetching water. It also found that easy access to clean water reduced the time women and girls spent fetching water by 50% and 90%. [5]

In Pakistan, school enrollment for all children increased by 80% in seven years as a result of the Punjab Rural Water Project. The project, which involved both women and men in all aspects of planning, design and execution, brought water to 325 poor and remote villages and changed the lives of 800,000 people. [6]

Ignoring women's participation in project planning may unintentionally increase the burden on women. For example, in eastern Nepal, standpipes and tube wells for improved water services “are located along the road where women cannot bathe freely or wash their clothes in peace for fear of being seen by men. To avoid this, women in the village of Khiel, in eastern Nepal, carry water home several times a day, spending a lot of time and energy on this procedure. In three villages, women wait until nightfall to perform the above procedures. All the women complained that the researchers did not involve them in the design of the construction of the columns and tube wells.” [7]

In peripheral areas of Malawi, women's participation in water management has been extremely constructive. At first, male managers were responsible for public water sources. However, they were found to be ineffective because the men were absent during the day and lacked the skills to coordinate services and financial management. A new all-female management team was created and significant improvements were made in both water management and sanitation. However, this has proven to be a heavy burden for women, and the program now follows an equitable strategy where the management team is made up of equal numbers of men and women and where work and influence are shared equally. [8]

B. Equitable access to rights to land and water resources for their productive use

Equitable access to water for productive use can empower women and address the root causes of poverty and gender inequality. Lack of access (tenure) to land resources may be an underlying reason for women's limited access to water. Women hold property rights on less than 2% of the world's private land, and in many countries (eg, much of Latin America) land ownership is a precondition for access to water. Thus, land reforms that distributed legal land ownership among heads of households or permanent agricultural workers (who are mostly men) resulted in women losing their right to claim water. [10] Additionally, even if women have legal rights to land, tradition often prevents them from having actual control over land and natural resources, for example in Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. [11]

Women and Aboriginal groups must be recognized as citizens, landowners and participants in development. They need safe access to water and land for productive use in agriculture and livestock production, in addition to access to water for domestic purposes. Meeting the needs of poor farmers requires a nuanced understanding of men's and women's local knowledge systems, resource utilization and income generation. Water is also needed by a number of small businesses, including: vegetable gardens in suburban areas (which are often missed in agricultural statistics); growing fruit trees; poultry farming; cooking, etc.

Overall, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports an increase in “feminization in agriculture” thanks to wars, pandemics and mass migration of men to urban areas in search of paid work. [12] The International Fund for Agricultural Development has also noted the fact that women are the heads of the vast majority of rural households in the developing world; these women are forced to work the land and earn food themselves, without legal rights to water and land. [13] Women in particular are estimated to be responsible for half of global food production (as opposed to high-value crops), with rural women producing between 60-80% of food in most developing countries. [14]

The role of women in agricultural production is not fully appreciated, despite the fact that in poor areas food security often depends on women's subsistence production to feed the population. Women also play an important role in establishing sustainable resource use in small-scale fishing communities, and their accumulated knowledge is valuable for the management and protection of water sources and watersheds.

Examples

The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India has focused much of its work on gaining access to water for manufacturing enterprises, which are often part of the so-called self-employed worker segment. Today, more than 93% of all workers in India are considered self-employed, more than half of whom are women. [15] While both women and men need water for productive purposes, their priorities differ.

SEWA has helped selected areas in India create plastic-lined water storage tanks with technical support and training provided by the Foundation for Public Interest (FPI). Local women now manage their own village water bodies, including all bookkeeping and accounts. In eight villages of Banaskantha district in Gujarat, women have formed their own committees. Through them they carry out the construction of protective dams, repair of village reservoirs and other construction related to water conservation. [16]

Since the mid-1990s, the World Bank has focused on poverty reduction as a key development goal. There has been substantial scientific research into the issues of gender and poverty, as well as the role of women in agriculture. Women's disadvantage in accessing productive resources such as land, labor and financial services is often cited as a major reason for high levels of poverty in female-headed households. However, water itself is not considered a vulnerable point. Discussions about access to water are often framed in domestic settings, e.g. time spent collecting water, or the availability of water and sanitation services of adequate quality. Access may be more linked to productive activities or the opportunity cost of time and energy spent fetching water, which reduces women's overall productivity and efficiency. However, the real problem for many women farmers is that it is very difficult or impossible for them to obtain irrigation water for agricultural purposes and they are completely dependent on rainfall.

B. Access to sanitation

The definition of access to basic sanitation, a term used in the short-term goal of the Johannesburg Implementation Plan, is sanitation facilities for the disposal of excreta. It only involves cleaning human excrement - either by dehydration or composting - to make it safe for processing in agricultural fields, as is widely practiced in China and other countries. Access to a cesspool is seen as more advanced than basic hygiene - an improved sanitation system. Because the health and environmental benefits of basic and improved sanitation systems add to society as a whole, governments and public organizations are interested in increasing access to this system. The social and environmental health costs of neglecting to address the sanitation problem are too great.

Lack of sanitation and poor hygiene are responsible for the spread of diarrhea, cholera, typhoid and several parasitic infections. Moreover, the incidence of these diseases and others associated with poor sanitation - for example, roundworm, trichuriasis, guinea worm and schistomiasis [18] - is highest among the poor, especially school-age children. These diseases have a significant negative impact on children's health, nutrition and learning abilities and result in high levels of school absenteeism. [19] More than 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

In the context of sanitation facilities, a focus on gender differences is particularly important. Often, the provision of latrines in schools contributes to girls' education, especially after they reach puberty, by providing them with privacy and protecting their self-esteem. It is especially important that public institutions that regularly receive the widest possible public – schools and health consultation centers – should become centers for teaching and demonstrating good hygiene and its benefits.

In addition, designing and locating latrines close to homes will reduce the amount of violence women experience when they relieve themselves outdoors after nightfall. They also suffer from stomach problems due to waiting for darkness to relieve themselves outdoors. Particular challenges are ensuring privacy and safety specifically for girls and women (especially in common areas), and designing to accommodate specific needs, such as those of young children and menstruating girls.

Men, women and children without access to basic sanitation put entire communities at risk. The lack of an adequate sanitation system undermines the relative benefits of owning a water supply in a community. Women play a critical role in influencing the hygiene habits of young children, and men can and should also serve as role models in reinforcing habit changes. The successful and efficient use of water and sanitation facilities will depend on the participation of both women and men in choosing the location and technology of such facilities and in taking responsibility for their operation and maintenance.

Examples

The School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) campaign, a joint project of UNICEF and IRC, the International Water and Sanitation Centre, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and others, aims to provide water and sanitation facilities in schools to improve the health of all students and encourage girls to attend school. Research and surveys have led to the conclusion that it is necessary to build separate facilities for girls and separately for boys so as not to discourage girls from attending school. In February 2000, the project was launched in Burkina Faso, Colombia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Vietnam and Zambia. With an emphasis on local participation, SSHE provides cost-effective teaching aids, low-cost community-developed technology and life skills education in hygiene in primary schools.

In Mozambique, a similar project supported the construction of separate latrines for boys, girls and teachers, as well as handwashing facilities for hygiene practices. These initiatives not only provided a safer and healthier learning environment, but also promoted girls' education. Where older girls used to drop out of school due to lack of privacy, they now remain in school to complete their basic education. Improved hygiene conditions gave the girls back their textbooks and self-esteem. [20]

In Bangladesh, a similar project to improve school sanitation with separate toilets for boys, girls and teachers helped increase girls' attendance by 11% per year, on average, from 1992 to 1999.[21]

In India, the Sulabha Sanitation Project has provided sanitation services throughout the country and has grown into a formal private ownership while maintaining its NGO character. The Municipal Corporations of Hyderabad (population 5.2 million) and Viyayawada (1 million) have entered into agreements with Sulabh to supply paid toilets and/or subsidized toilets in slum areas. The public toilet complexes built and maintained by Sulabh International have greatly improved the environment, especially in public places such as markets, bus stations and railway stations. Particular attention is paid to the needs of women, especially those who live in impoverished areas and scavenge. They are included as students and instructors in the re-education process and are trained as health volunteers in the hope that they will pass on their knowledge to other women. [22]

D. Capacity development

Taking a closer look at capacity building in water supply and sanitation, it becomes clear that training is mainly aimed at water resource and water supply professionals, with very few programs in developing countries dedicated to expertise in social development, sanitation and hygiene education. Building capacity means mobilizing resources, more people (both men and women) and more skills. Water and sanitation policies and programs must be linked to the different needs and demands of women and men, as well as the broader goals of poverty eradication and sustainable development.

To ensure sustainability, capacity building must continue after the project, gradually working its way down to the level of those responsible for operation and maintenance. Development organizations need funding for follow-up training once the infrastructure is completed. The cost-effectiveness and positive impact of a gender-sensitive approach to water and sanitation have been widely demonstrated. Targeting women to learn as role models and “teachers” at the household level is a cost-effective way to increase awareness and skill.

Examples

Linking water with other sectors when planning water, sanitation and hygiene education programs ensures that the needs and aspirations of all groups are taken into account. In Uganda, the school sanitation and hygiene curriculum was distributed among the ministries of water and education, which were headed by women. Working together, ministries are developing compensatory action programs to encourage girls to obtain better technical education and vocational foundations.

Supportive training of female technicians and other personnel facilitates the achievement of goals of improving access to safe water and sanitation. For example, in the Mantsonyane district of Lesotho, the village water committee selects a “waterworks supervisor” who is given tools to maintain the water supply and latrines. The fund for the maintenance of the structures is collected from funds collected from village residents and is in the hands of the water committee. Up to 90% of water wardens are women. Villagers tend to choose women because they have more experience in water supply and sanitation, are more likely to be at home, and are directly involved in family health and hygiene issues.

Women demonstrate their initiative by taking responsibility for the technical maintenance of household hydraulic structures. In Malawi, water supply committees, made up mostly of women, use pipeline routes as roads and report leaks to the village caretaker. Such local strategies can be creatively chosen to develop sustainable, low-cost, community-based maintenance systems for project facilities. [23]

A community-based water supply and sanitation program in Nepal's Eastern Development Region employed a women's sanitation team of 44 participants who were responsible for 23 pumps in 160 households in a small village in Yapa district. The sanitation team coordinator teaches adult literacy classes in her community and manages the production of rings and platforms needed to build latrines through a revolving fund. The program recognizes and ensures women's participation by institutionalizing their role in planning, site and design selection, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation of sanitation conditions. [24]

Community Socio-Economic Sections have been implementing local water supply and sanitation projects in Kerala, India, since 1988. with community involvement, from planning to monitoring. To address the shortage of skilled stonemasons to construct cheap twin latrines, the Yewapurna Women Stonemasons Society (JEEWOMS) was formed to train women in the skills of cement block making, rebar work and latrine construction. In the late 1990s, JEEWOMS trained women in housing construction skills, and some students became trainers. Seeing such success, more and more government agencies in the Kerala region have started training women in the art of stone masonry as a major achievement of their women empowerment initiatives. [25]

The Watershed and Gender Project in El Salvador is another example of women learning new skills through participation and inclusion. The project supported women as leaders and trained them in their roles as founders and managers of small businesses in the community. As a result, women have acquired technical knowledge in agriculture and now perform tasks that were previously considered strictly masculine. [26]

D. Participation and equality

Water management must be democratic and open and reflect the needs of people, especially women, who are the primary users (suppliers) of water around the world. Action must be taken to reduce the number of people, in particular women, without reliable access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities for excrement disposal. Safe water resources require the protection of water sources, as well as transportation, storage and maintenance of hydraulic and sanitation structures at the proper level. Institutional support from communities, development agencies and government policies should provide a framework for improvements in water supply and sanitation, including infrastructure and services, technology transfer and institutional capacity development, that meet the needs of both men and women. It was found that projects/schemes in which men and women participated equally had a greater chance of success and sustainability as they addressed the concerns of both genders. Women and men need access to information about technology, planning and financing, as well as access to credit, land and legal institutions and the ability to actively participate in decision-making.

However, the “world of water” consists almost entirely of men. Careers and training in water resources management are dominated by men. The gender split of participants at international water symposia and conferences shows a marked difference between the number of female and male participants. Only 10 women out of 115 people attended the meeting of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) Advisory Group. The World Water Council has 32 board members, of which only 3 are women; The International Water Quality Association has no women on its board at all.27 These statistics are representative of the gender breakdown of decision makers in most of the leading water world organizations. A notable exception to the rule occurred in November 2004. meeting of the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW), which took place in Entebbe, Uganda, where four women ministers actively participated and one (from Uganda) was elected as Chairperson of the Council.

Women's attempts to break into the "world of water" may, however, lead to their censure for invading men's territory. Moreover, to effectively participate in water management, women must overcome certain social barriers that limit their participation in community-based forums or public consultations that may influence water policy. While it is difficult to imagine that the direction of water policy in many countries will change in the near future, affirmative action strategies and gender-sensitive laws in South Africa have proven to be successful means of empowering women.

Sanitation and hygiene require social marketing if they are to become desirable and prestigious. This is an area where government agencies can leverage the skills of the private sector through a wide range of public communication channels. Those who provide hygiene education must also find ways to confront the issue of gender equality, which also limits the effectiveness of efforts in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene. Men usually make decisions about how to use excess funds or effort. But women have a greater need for private sanitation services and are responsible for water, sanitation and hygiene.

Examples

Some UN projects in West Africa included at least 2 women on local water committees. The goal was to give women more power in the leadership of water projects, which directly influenced their committees. In some cases, women who served on committees were often relegated to roles such as cleaning pumps or supervising animals and children to prevent them from falling into wells. While data on women's participation looks good on paper, in practice it is not always the case.

On the other hand, in South Africa, women's participation has increased at all levels of water management, thanks to countervailing efforts to encourage women's participation, including women in water awards and grants for young women aimed at careers in the water sector. The principle of non-discrimination against women was enshrined in the 1994 constitution in South Africa, and the system of women's participation was inconsistent across all sectors. South African laws are gender biased, i.e. the government can purchase materials and use the services of only those companies where at least 30% of the work is carried out by women. This “imposed” participation gave women the confidence necessary to gain freedom. Women's empowerment has proven significant in eliminating poverty and providing basic services in South Africa.

Uganda has had a compensatory action program since 1997. She specifies that all administrative levels from cabinet to village must include at least 30% women. Over time, the women have found their voice and are now learning to place water resources within the village, making decisions about the location of structures or repairing pumps. The percentage of separation has decreased significantly. Women also got involved: in rural areas, building warehouses to store spare parts for drilling wells, and in urban areas, managing water supply systems. In water user associations, women are often responsible for financial aspects.

In Trinidad and Tobago, most community water projects were started and managed by women, and these projects performed very well, according to the Water Resources Development Division of the Ministry of Food and Marine Resources.

In Cameroon, a group of women created a company and made enough profit to build a water supply system. Women now run neighborhood water committees.

The WASH Campaign, organized by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), brings its message of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene to all women and men in over 40 countries. The Council includes UN organizations, NGOs, bilateral donors, institutions and the private sector. A new initiative called the African Ministerial Initiative on WASH (AMIWASH) aims to help African countries achieve the MDGs on water and sanitation. The campaign is being led by new AMCOW Chair Maria Mutagamba, Uganda's Minister of Water Resources. The initiative includes the creation of a Women's Leadership Caucus to advocate for women's roles in decision-making, organizational capacity development, children's sanitation and hygiene education, and mobilizing political will around other priorities such as the nexus between water, sanitation, hygiene and HIV/AIDS. The efforts of AMIWASH and AMCOW in developing a national course towards the MDGs were presented to the attention of the 13th session of the Millennium Development Commission in 2005 [28]

One of the pilot projects of the WASH campaign, located in the slums of Tondo, Manila (Philippines), receives support from the Municipal Government, the Ports Authority, a women's cooperative, etc. The project includes rainwater harvesting, sanitation and drainage facilities. Teachers, trainers and coordinators are exclusively women; they teach and promote WASH messages to slum dwellers, especially the children they teach. The project uses locally produced soap developed by a female inventor.

In Ukraine, the cleaning of railway oil tanks and the city's poor sewage system caused sewage to flood homes and streets. When the women came to the local administration, they were denied funds to solve this problem. With the help of an environmental NGO, the women met with residents, initiated a political campaign and brought legal action against the local administration. As a result, the government allocated resources to complete the sewage pump, funded environmental work, and closed a dangerous oil tank cleaning facility. [29]

Other examples demonstrate the effectiveness of projects in which women play a central role at all levels of the project. For example, women in the town of La Serena, in Colombia, wanted to improve the quality of water in the Canaveralegio River, which was heavily polluted. In 1995 women fought to strengthen leadership positions on the board of the action. The board was run by men, and women were forced to impose themselves as members. When women proved their abilities and took positions in management, a water purification plant was built. Since then there have been many improvements. For example, cases of diarrhea and other skin diseases in children became less frequent, and the city was saved from a cholera epidemic. [30]

But men need to be encouraged often to encourage women's participation. In the village of Khoto, Baluchistan (Pakistan), where women adhere to a strict burqa rule, a community engagement research team came to the village's aid in 1994 to improve water management. For a year, the men did not allow the group to meet with the village women. Eventually, the women were able to participate in a joint meeting and put forward a proposal to build a new water reservoir on unused land that would supply water to the non-functioning government water pipes. The women's decision, which was much more economical, was made over and above the proposal sent by e-mail. Moreover, after this initial success, women became active participants in decision-making and significant changes occurred in their lives through hygiene education. The most important was the need for the education of their daughters. In 1998, a new school for girls opened in Khoto. The outcome of the project amazed the traditional leaders. The same approach is now being used in other villages. [31]

E. Protecting the Resource Base: Local Perspectives

In Program 21 (paragraph 26.5), the international community and Governments were called upon to use the active participation of local people and their communities and to incorporate their values, opinions and knowledge, incl. the unique contribution of local women to resource management and other policies and programs that impact them. The following is a request to international development agencies and Governments to provide financial and other resources for the education and training of local communities to develop their capacity to achieve sustainable self-development and to contribute and participate in sustainable and equitable development at the national level. Particular attention should be paid to strengthening the role of local women.

Local residents remain particularly vulnerable to water scarcity and water quality problems due to eviction and exclusion. Until now, local residents have extensive traditional knowledge about water resources and their conservation. Water sources on local lands are often considered a sacred element, and local women may be the bearers of "water knowledge." Indigenous people have traditional knowledge and skills regarding the detection/location of water and its protection. Their traditional land management skills often provide the most effective method of managing water resources within their settlements.

However, due to the lack of sovereignty over natural resources, the local population is seriously suffering from uncompensated and unsustainable water losses in agriculture and other sectors. In the worst cases, authorities closed water sources in an attempt to forcibly remove local populations from their own territories.

Examples

In Australia's Wijira National Park, pastoralists have already caused serious degradation of the "upland springs" in the Great Artesian Basin. Some of them can be restored using traditional Aboriginal methods and skills. [32] In other cases, the Gana and Gwi tribes of South Africa lived on the Central Kalahari Game Reserve until government attempts to resettle them led to the destruction of their water well in 2002. [33] In other cases, local residents are not provided with clean drinking water at the same level as the rest of the country's citizens.

Pollution and poisoning greatly affected the indigenous population. For example, many communities in the Altai region of Siberia get their drinking water from streams, rivers and lakes that are contaminated with elevated levels of nitrogen, fecal coliform bacteria and other pollutants. Poor quality of drinking water remains the main cause of health problems for young children in the region. Drinking water quality and sanitation are often identified as priority areas for economic development of the Altai Territory in the Russian Federation. [34]

Sometimes women take the lead in protecting water resources in their communities. For example, in northeastern Brazil, the Rural Workers' Movement mobilized women to improve the health of a small local river in a water-stressed area. In addition to planting native tree species along the river banks, this action includes community formation, i.e. teach local residents not to dump their sewage into the river. Women activists are pursuing this project without government support, hoping that if they are successful, the government will support other similar efforts. [35]

G. Resource mobilization

Improving access to water and sanitation and changing health culture has major benefits for society as a whole (through improved health, education and the overall economy), justifying continued support from the public sector. Although some funds will come from external funding agencies, it is unlikely that this assistance will increase quickly enough to meet water and sanitation needs around the world. Governments will continue to be primarily responsible for mobilizing and using public funds (from general revenues, cross-subsidies, user contributions and loans) for water and sanitation infrastructure. However, in many cases communities themselves are involved in initiating and financing local projects.

Formal and informal women's organizations and networks can play an important and catalytic role in mobilizing resources for sustainable and equitable water and land management projects. However, women in developing countries often do not have access to tools such as computers and the Internet to spread their ideas and find funds. Training women in project management and fundraising can empower them to independently start new projects and contribute to the fight against poverty. Funding may also come from local private companies or entrepreneurs, which may be supported by government incentive programs. However, since women generally have limited access to credit, such incentive programs should be made available to them, perhaps in the form of micro-loans.

Households can make in-kind contributions in the form of digging pit toilets or constructing rainwater interception structures (where there are able-bodied family members). More attention needs to be paid to improving the division within families, between men and women, of monetary and labor contributions to water supply and family sanitation. Service fees to cover the ongoing costs of operation and maintenance of facilities should be adapted to local circumstances, for example classified by harvest time, taking into account the competing demands for money at certain times of the year.

Examples

Women's roles in the construction and maintenance of water and sanitation facilities range from mobilizing funds to actively working in construction, preventative maintenance and repairs to pay for water in the form of labor. For example, Swayam Shikshan Prayog in India facilitated the creation of more than 100 women's savings and loan groups that mobilized their own savings to provide loans to each other. Women began to organize to solve issues such as water supply in their settlements. [36]

Several UN water projects in Africa have found that women are the most effective managers where water is used to generate income and where women have control over the income earned in their small businesses. For example, women's cooperatives associated with water points in Mauritania became very dynamic, where women were truly empowered to take a more active and visible role in water management through capacity development and credit provision. Their participation leads to more efficient use of water and better cost recovery to keep the system running.

Women in Lesotho have a tradition of saving a small amount of money every month for important purposes. Similar traditional sources of investment could be used for water and sanitation facilities, complemented by seed investments from NGOs and other sources.

In Uganda, the Ministry of Water Resources is trying to mobilize women to manage standpipes and collect fees for their operation. It also encourages local managers to purchase some of the private facilities and women are successful in the bidding process.

H. Privatization, pricing and water rights

A very controversial issue at the international level is the privatization of water services versus water rights. Water for basic needs has been defined primarily as a public good and a human right - rather than as a commodity traded on the open market. Viewing water as a public good, it is believed that water should be managed for social needs and environmental sustainability rather than for profit. This does not mean that transferring responsibility from governments to large private corporations is impossible, since the profit motive can crowd out attention to human needs and rights. Large private utility companies can remain largely unaccountable to the people they are supposed to help.

Governments are responsible for ensuring that water is provided to meet basic human needs and maintain ecosystem integrity, either through pricing policies, general taxation, bank loans or international aid.

In addition, it is generally accepted that users should pay an appropriate price for water. Sustainable cost recovery could include targeted subsidies for the poor and demand management to reduce wastewater. A realistic tariff policy could include graduated tariff rates in which consumers pay more per unit as consumption increases to encourage resource conservation. Different rates may apply for urban and rural consumers, agriculture and industry, after consultation with the main users. Water-saving pricing can reduce the need to develop new water sources, such as through desalination.

However, water pricing policies may have different impacts on men and women. There is often a difference between willingness and ability to pay. Even though poor women may prioritize access to clean water, they may be forced to use contaminated water that is free rather than clean water that they cannot afford. This of course affects the health of the population and can lead to higher health care costs.

Moreover, these unmet clean water needs will not be reflected in water demand, where it is measured only by purchased volume. Demand for water and sanitation can only be determined through consultation with male community members, even if women are responsible for mobilizing funds to meet this demand.

Since most investment in water supply and sanitation has taken place at the household level in the last decade, small-scale private providers should be supported to build quality sanitation facilities. There are examples of women-owned small enterprises providing water points and public latrines at the community level. Local entrepreneurs will continue to play an important role in providing access to water and sanitation for millions of people who remain unreached in both rural and urban areas.

Examples

Like most of the world's poor, women are negatively impacted by the privatization of water services. When the price of water increases, the burden on women as homemakers and caregivers also increases. In Orange Farm, South Africa, a community of 500,000 people, the local water supplier told residents that it would provide sewerage and sanitation services to every household that paid a flat fee in 2002. The company began installing prepaid flow meters. Residents, mostly women, took to the streets to protest. A widespread campaign was launched and the Orange Farm Water Crisis Committee was created, which advocates for the government to provide basic services. Women feared a cholera outbreak that occurred in Alexandra and KwaZulu Natal in 2000 and 2001, when increases in service charges meant people were unable to pay for drinking contaminated water.

Women also feared that the elderly and sick, mainly HIV patients, and their extended families would not be able to survive on the free six kiloliters per person per day, making water unaffordable. [37]

The consequences of the privatization of water services in Chochabamba in Bolivia and Conakry in Guinea were particularly severe for local populations. Rising water prices have had a profound negative impact on the lives of women and children. In Colombia and the Philippines, communities began using contaminated water again when water services were suspended due to non-payment. This put communities at risk of serious illness. [38]

In Argentina, rapidly rising water prices following the privatization of services in Buenos Aires—and the costs of expanding services—had to be borne disproportionately by the urban poor. Non-payment of water and sewerage services amounts to 30% and denial of further services is common, with women and children bearing the brunt of the consequences for their health and safety. [39]

I. Water resources and conflicts

Water is the source of life, but as such it can also be a source of competing demands, leading to conflict. In the 20th century, the world's population tripled and global demand for water increased sixfold. At the international level, transboundary water issues have always caused heated debate and, as many famous people say, the wars of the 21st century will actually be wars over water. Since time immemorial, downstream and upstream users have argued about their share of water. [40]

Water resources have rarely, if ever, been the sole source of violent conflict or war. But given the large number of international watercourses that are shared by multiple countries, water and its use can be a source of tension and can make relations between countries strained. Therefore, for many countries water remains a security issue.

Although water can give rise to armed conflict, fresh water can, because of its value, be a powerful incentive for cooperation. Water as a potential cause of conflict and water as a factor of cooperation can be seen as two sides of a coin. [41] Research has shown that there is much more historical evidence for water as a catalyst for cooperation than as a factor for conflict. A number of examples of actual water treaties can be noted, even between countries such as India and Pakistan, Israel and Jordan, which may be in conflict on other issues. Rivers give us the basis for concrete ideas for cooperation and sharing of a resource without which it is impossible to live. Because water is essential to every aspect of life - health, human rights, environment, economics, social welfare, politics and culture - it goes beyond unilateral decisions within a single country or industry. The link between conflict prevention, peacebuilding and natural resource management therefore deserves greater attention. Women, who know best the vital nature of clean water and sanitation, play a critical role in peacebuilding efforts through water management and cooperation.

Because of its fundamental importance, water is often a point of contention during armed conflict and can be a target during wars. Flood control dams can be destroyed to flood enemy areas, and water supplies and wells can be deliberately polluted to harm the enemy.

In addition, water scarcity and lack of sanitation are often exacerbated by armed conflicts. Civilians - especially women and children - are the first to suffer from the destruction of water supplies, and thirst is often more deadly than weapons. People exposed to natural and man-made disasters are more likely to become ill and die from diseases associated with poor sanitation and water supply than from any other cause. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure minimum standards for sanitation services after disasters or during emergency situations.

Women and girls pay dearly for water scarcity. They must travel long distances to find water, and conditions can be more dangerous. Thus, conflicts that exacerbate water scarcity result in double the hardship for women: the negative impact of water scarcity is accompanied by well-documented attacks on women's fundamental human rights that occur during wartime.

Women are disproportionately impacted by natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes as a result of gender inequalities in political and economic status, human rights, education and health care. Women have a higher mortality rate from disasters because they often do not receive warnings or any other information about the hazards and risks. Their mobility during disasters may be limited or influenced by cultural and social constraints. Gender inequalities can make it difficult and prolong women's recovery time, for example if a woman does not receive timely treatment for disaster-related trauma. During the Mozambique floods of 2000, with clean water in short supply, many women were forced to use flood water for cooking, thereby increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.

III. What can you do?

A. National governments

Governments need to have a clear commitment to explicitly integrate water and especially sanitation programs into their national development or poverty reduction strategies and their budgets. It is also important to include a gender perspective in all policies and programs aimed at sustainable development. Such programs will be more sustainable and more equitable if both women and men are involved in their planning and implementation. Some of the suggested actions are listed below.

1. Strengthen legislation and mobilize resources to improve access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

Introduce and strengthen water legislation that supports small-scale water development, prioritizes the allocation of water for basic domestic and productive needs, and is based on fair customary arrangements
Allocate funds and other resources to civil society organizations and small-scale water and sanitation service providers, especially those that include women as full partners in water and sanitation projects
Promote access to credit to increase access, in particular for women, to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and water for productive uses
Provide micro-credit and alternative financing mechanisms to gender-sensitive organizations to improve or build community-based water and sanitation services
Change discriminatory laws that prevent women from getting loans or opening bank accounts
Introduce affirmative action plans to ensure that a minimum proportion of women (i.e. 30%) participate in the decision-making process from government level to village level
Encourage women to participate in business: in the rural area of workshops for storing spare parts for wells; in urban areas to manage water systems; in water user associations, for financial management
Allocate funds to develop the capacity of women and girls and to women's organizations interested in improving access to water and sanitation
Consider women's participation in water use and management in the broader context of their access to productive assets and resources
Targeted government funding to: promote responsible water, sanitation and community sanitation policies; improving public and school water and sanitation services; targeting subsidies where they can be demonstrated to be effective in increasing access;
Consider innovative low-cost and sustainable water and sanitation technology options and services that work for both women and men
Focus efforts and resources in targeting service delivery to poor communities, especially in urban slums, peripheral areas and rural areas
Ensure that health care and hygiene are taught as a separate subject in schools for girls and boys
Set realistic targets for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and beyond, depending on the country and its situation

2. Promote access to land and water for productive purposes

Recognize the key roles of women in irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, as well as their responsibilities in livestock production, fisheries and watershed management
Consider gender-sensitive interventions, including access to financial resources (loans on favorable terms and credit) to benefit both women and men
Increase women's productivity in water use in agriculture and small businesses through training, market linkages and access to information
Support and develop secure and equitable access to land and land tenure that empowers women producers to become decision-makers and owners;
Give women equal rights to inherit land, which may entail changes in traditional practices.

3. Development of access to sanitary and hygienic conditions

Prioritize sanitation in planning, budgeting and execution
Ensure that sanitation and hygiene policies are in place, there are clear organizational commitments and the overall sanitation and hygiene structure is gender sensitive
Provide opportunities for women to participate in the policy development process and the selection of design and technology systems;
Be open to discussing traditional rules and opinions that hold women back from using existing latrines (eg, a daughter-in-law is not allowed to use the same latrine as her father-in-law)
Formulate national policies to place gender equality and equity at the center of sanitation and hygiene development
Use new media, including posters, flyers, T-shirts, etc. to promote hygienic conditions
Invest in training or retraining frontline staff to work effectively with women, men and children
Support public awareness campaigns focusing on gender equality and increasing the role of women in planning, decision-making and implementation of sanitation programs
Provide funds for school sanitation to benefit both boys and girls
Conducting research to identify, through gender analysis, where social or economic groups are consistently ignored in providing access to sanitation systems
Finding sustainable options for household sanitation that promote a closed-loop system, such as environmental sanitation

4. Capacity development and encouragement of participation

Encourage the development of new skills and experience within Integrated Water Resources Management, linking social and gender dimensions with environmental, technical and economic aspects of water management. Particularly at the community level, integrated water and sanitation management is key to meeting water demands of men and women from multiple sources
Use traditional knowledge of women and indigenous people to locate water sources, make decisions about the siting of structures and repair pumps
Develop gender-sensitive tools at the organizational level, including sex-disaggregated data, gender analysis, gender-sensitive indicators, gender budgeting initiatives and training
Provide training and awareness-raising materials on the links between gender, water and poverty to senior management, officials, decision makers and technical staff in water management organizations, engineering colleges and finance and planning departments.
Develop gender-sensitive participatory governance processes that not only empower women, but also raise men's awareness and create an environment in which men and women can work together to achieve common goals
Encourage equal representation, equal contributions and equal recognition among women and men, starting at school
Use strong role models to encourage girls to study science, engineering and mathematics for senior positions
To increase the number of women at high political levels, reserve some positions for women at lower levels.

5. Guarantee public discussion and fair tender procedures when privatizing water services

Measure the differential impact on women and men of private sector participation in the provision of water services and ensure that adequate access to water for small-scale agriculture and domestic purposes is protected as a priority water allocation
Make information available to civil society (via radio and other media channels) about potential privatization plans, including NGOs and community representatives, and involve them in discussions on public-private partnerships
Help small-scale entrepreneurs and suppliers, both men and women, improve the delivery of adequate water and sanitation services and generate business income
Find legal and organizational ways to determine local ownership of water resources (ie local water user associations) and distribute water among competing users.

B. Regional/local authorities

1. Encourage the promotion of gender issues at the local level

Encourage gender-sensitive budgets so that local authorities have a tool to check whether actual spending and planned budgets reflect political commitments to gender equality
Recruit staff with skills and awareness of local traditions and practices who are specialists in working with women, men and children
Eliminate gender bias and discrimination in public institutions and recognize the important role women play in securing and conserving water
Work with local businesses and community/women's organizations and recognize the distinct needs of women and girls and provide affordable and safe water and sanitation facilities to communities
Provide timely information to communities on natural and man-made events (including epidemics) that may affect water availability and sanitation conditions
Invest in water and sanitation facilities in schools and user training with an emphasis on participation and ownership to ensure sustainability
Support the protection of water sources from pollution by local communities and indigenous peoples
Make available appropriate technologies that are affordable and owned by local organizations that support the work of communities, especially women

2. Development of sanitary and hygienic conditions

Channel efforts to disseminate hygiene knowledge and provide hygiene education through women's organizations, schools and clinics
Address the practical and strategic sanitation and hygiene needs of men and women, who differ by culture and tradition, location and other factors

3. Capacity development

Design and implement capacity development activities to ensure that the needs and wishes of all groups are taken into account when developing water, sanitation and education programs
Provide on-the-job training to local women and men in the operation, maintenance and repair of water and sanitation facilities, with a focus on sustainability rather than profit

B. Communities and civil society

Lobby for the best services targeting women, men and children
Support public sector work to disseminate gender issues and improve knowledge about social development
Provide information on what types of solutions different groups in society prefer and can afford to meet their water supply, productive water and sanitation requirements
Help local groups gain access to media, information and training
Encourage and develop the capacity of community-based organizations to effectively participate in government programs
Integrate local and traditional knowledge/practices with water use planning and implementation to ensure ownership and sustainability of projects
Support gender equality in the management and use of water and sanitation so that these services are more cost-effective
Support the collection of information on the roles, access, needs, priorities and perspectives of women and men on issues related to water and sanitation, with a view to integrating gender issues into plans and design of facilities

D. Donors and international organizations

Adopt a flexible approach combining funding for capacity development and funding for capital investment
Engage women leaders, especially ministers of nature conservation and water, to act as role models in an effort to promote gender in the water sector at all levels
Invest in capacity development to ensure long-term resilience, providing opportunities for disadvantaged men and women
Provide technical assistance to local authorities and communities regarding low-cost technology and access to information
Collect and disseminate examples of successful programs and methods; develop norms and guidelines for the dissemination of gender issues
Support the development and implementation of gender-sensitive water policies to influence national policy structures
Encourage journalists and media outlets, in both developed and developing countries, to provide greater coverage of gender and water issues and support efforts to provide reliable, accurate and gender-sensitive reporting
Support partner organizations in creating, improving, maintaining and effectively using gender-sensitive information systems
Support the creation and effective use of gender-sensitive information containing sex-disaggregated data to support gender-sensitive policy development in these organizations
Provide support for capacity development of gender specialists in the form of training, consultations, exchange programs, conferences to share experiences, etc.
Help gender specialists, stakeholders and organizations develop gender knowledge and skills among their colleagues through training, development of gender guidelines and gender planning
Promote equal opportunities for men and women within donor organizations
Support action to address the needs and priorities of men and women and ensure equal access to services, resources, opportunities and decision-making.