Chronicle Editor
Andile Tshuma
As the month of March is nearing its end, we continue to celebrate women and the various roles they play in communities.
The life, love and vibe that they bring make our communities thrive, yet they continue to endure a plethora of hardships, sometimes to access even the most basic necessities.
March 22 was World Water Day, an internationally-celebrated day dedicated to collaboration between the United Nations, governments and non-governmental organisations to tackle the world’s water crisis.
It is ironic that World Water Day falls under the Women’s Month, yet, more than a third of the world’s population still does not have access to safe potable water.
In Zimbabwe, Section 77 of the Constitution guarantees the right to safe, clean and potable water and mandates the state to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the reasonably available resources to it, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right.
Ensuring universal access to safe water by 2030 is identified as a critical component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s mandate to eradicate extreme poverty in Zimbabwe.
The global water crisis is not only deadly—lack of access to clean water claims more lives each year than Aids, breast cancer, terrorism and all the world’s conflicts combined.
Zimbabwe this week joined the rest of the world in commemorating this important day under the theme “Valuing Water”.
In his speech, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Anxious Masuka said this year’s theme was timely and appropriate for Zimbabwe as the attainment of Vision 2030 was dependent to a large extent on harnessing water resources for development.
“Without water there is, therefore, no life, and there cannot be any socio-economic development,” said Minister Masuka.
Water availability also affects whether or not girls, especially those from poor, rural, or marginalised families, are educated. The gender gap in water-related work begins early in life as young girls between the ages of five and nine spend an estimated 40 million more hours a day on household chores than boys, and girls aged 10 to 14 years old spend 120 million more hours each day.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, an average trip to collect water covers over five kilometres and takes 33 minutes each way — and in a number of countries, such as Mauritania, Somalia, Tunisia, and Yemen, the trip takes longer than an hour each way.
In Zimbabwe many communities still struggle to access safe water and the situation is worse in the dry season when families and farmers also lose their livestock.
Women would be forced to walk longer distances, only to carry a 20-litre bucket or so.
If, like in many sub-Saharan African communities, fetching water takes several hours, it considerably shortens the time girls have available for schooling and some families will then not prioritise girls’ education.
The burden of water collection is not only felt by women and girls themselves, but has far-reaching effects on broader prosperity. The millions of hours women and girls spend every day collecting water globally is time that could be spent carrying out income generating activities and contributing to the growth of their respective economies.
Experts estimate that lack of ready access to clean water causes annual economic losses of up to seven percent of Gross Domestic Product in some countries.
Given these strong connections between lack of access to clean water and other development areas, including gender equality, governments, multilateral organisations and private sector leaders are investing in projects to build and repair wells, bring water sources closer to communities and install solar pumping technologies.
Evidence suggests that these efforts would be strengthened by investment in women’s access to and ownership of water tools and technologies: when women run water co-operatives or own water pumps, for example, they are significantly more likely than men to invest profits and time saved back into their communities.
Efforts geared towards improving the management of the world’s resources and extending access to safe water should thus capitalise on the central roles women already play in water management. It is clear that lessening the burden of unpaid water work that falls on women and girls is not only essential as a matter of human rights, as it unleashes a range of positive economic and development outcomes.
It is important to note that many women earn a living from running small nutrition gardens but during the dry months of the year when water is scarce, most women can only carry water for cooking and other household needs. This means that their incomes from nutritional gardens are eroded.
Women are the face of the climate change crisis yet they are often kept out of the big dialogues on how communities can best deal with the challenge at hand, which also manifests as a water crisis in some regions.
Not enough has been highlighted in the daily struggles for the average women in rural areas as they are continuously in search of water.
This is particularly relevant in some of the driest provinces such as Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South where in some villages, women have to walk as far as 25 kilometres just to access water.
Go to any borehole anytime around the suburbs or in rural areas and you find that 80 percent or more of the people there are females.
Women are the face of the crisis and the water situation is impacting their lives in many told and untold ways.
The absence of nearby water sources increases the burden on women. They walk long distances to access water and face health problems due to lack of adequate clean water.
Vulnerable women such as the elderly, expectant mothers and women with disabilities are most affected.
After trekking an average five kilometres a day, looking for their precious resource, household chores await them.
The families need to eat, bath and be taken care of.
The assigned gender roles unfairly burden women with house work and the situation is worsened when there is no water.
Menstrual hygiene management also presents another headache to women when water is scarce. Women need to be extra hygienic during this time to avoid infections and odours and general discomfort. But when there is no running water for extended periods of time, it is really stressful for women.
Spare a thought for an elderly granny who finds it difficult to carry a five-litre container of water but needs about 30 litres just for herself for a day to cook, wash and for her other hygiene needs.
It calls for community members to identify such vulnerable people and extend a helping hand.
Water is essential and is unlike other basics such as energy which have alternatives.
As we continue to celebrate women this month, let us be mindful of the challenges they face, including the hardships faced in accessing safe portable water. — @andile_tshuma.
Online Reporter