Headline factsThe MDGs are strongly inter-dependentand programme interventions mustreflect this. Water, sanitation andhygiene deliver outcomes across theMDGs.

Why is water, sanitation andhygiene so important forwomen and girls?

Gender cuts across developmentsectors:

Gender and EducationMore girls attend school whencommunity water supplies areimproved and when there areseparate and private sanitationfacilities for girls and boys at school.

Gender and HealthWidespread health improvementsbenefit women directly (includingmaternal health), aid women ascarers of the sick and result in betterhousehold hygiene.

BRIEFING NOTE 4

www.lboro.ac.uk/well/

This Briefing Note presents evidence forthe impact of water supply, sanitationand improved hygiene on the position ofwomen and girls.

Key referencesWaterAid (2001) Looking back: Thelong-term impacts of water and sanita-tion projects. WaterAid. London.World Water Vision (1999)Mainstreaming gender in water re-sources management. World WaterVision Unit. France.UNICEF (2004) Real Lives.http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/nigeria_1468.htmlWSSCC (2004) WSSCC Resource Packon Water and Sanitation MillenniumDevelopment Goals

Full details of all the material used insupport of this briefing note are available atwww.lboro.ac.uk/well

There are six briefing notes in this series:1. The Poverty Millennium Development

Goal: What water, sanitation andhygiene can do

2. The Education MillenniumDevelopment Goal: What water,sanitation and hygiene can do

3. The Child Health MillenniumDevelopment Goal: What water,sanitation and hygiene can do

4. The Gender Millennium DevelopmentGoal: What water, sanitation andhygiene can do

5. The HIV/AIDS MillenniumDevelopment Goal: What water,sanitation and hygiene can do

6. The Environmental SustainabilityMillennium Development Goal: Whatwater, sanitation and hygiene can do

DFID Resource Centre in Water, Sanitation& Environmental Healthwww.lboro.ac.uk/well

Briefing Note compiled byJulie Fisher of WEDC

Photographs by:Paul Deverill, Julie Fisher,Darren Saywell, Rebecca Scott,Jonathan Rouse and Rod Shaw

For further information, contact:Andrew Cotton or Julie FisherWater, Engineering and DevelopmentCentre (WEDC)Loughborough UniversityLeicestershire LE11 3TU UK

Email: A.P.Cotton@lboro.ac.ukJ.Fisher1@lboro.ac.uk

Phone: 0 (44) 1509 222885Fax: 0 (44) 1509 211079Website: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/wedc/

Gender andCulture

Why water, sanitation andhygiene?

Privacy and dignityWith access to improved water,sanitation and hygiene, women andgirls can use sanitation facilitieswithout shame, embarrassment and fear.It is vital to take their needs intoaccount in planning and implementingsanitation projects.

The MillenniumDevelopment Goals

In September 2001, the UnitedNations Millennium Summitagreed a set of time-boundand measurable goals aimed atcombating poverty, hunger,illiteracy, environmentaldegradation anddiscrimination againstwomen.

The third MillenniumDevelopment Goal (MDG) isto promote gender equalityand empower women. Thetarget is to achieve genderparity in education by 2015.The associated indicatorsconcern schooling, literacy,non-agricultural wagedemployment, and seats innational parliaments. Only24% of countries haveachieved this goal to date and39% are on track.

The GENDERMillennium Development GoalWhat water, sanitation and hygiene can do

Gender and Domestic WorkImproved water supply reduces the burden of domestic tasks andgives women more time with children and for economic activity.

Gender and Income GenerationImproved water supply and reduced burden of disease frees up moretime for women to work to generate income and develop enterprises.

Gender and CultureImproved water and sanitation facilities enhance women’s dignity,status and opportunity.

Women’s status in thecommunity and familyWomen value water for its benefits totheir families’ health and well beingand to their economic activities. Thereare enormous advantages in involvingwomen in planning and management.

There are also benefits for women interms of empowerment within thefamily and the community.

The facts

There are several ways in which improved water, sanitation and hygieneimpacts on the socio-cultural position of women. It has the potential toprovide them with privacy and dignity, and increased status within the familyand the wider community.

WELL is a network of resource centres:WEDC at Loughborough University UKIRC at Delft, The NetherlandsAMREF, Nairobi, KenyaIWSD, Harare, ZimbabweLSHTM at University of London, UK

TREND, Kumasi, GhanaSEUF, Thiruvananthapuram, IndiaICDDR, B, Dhaka, BangladeshNETWAS, Nairobi, Kenya

This note was funded by the UK Departmentfor International Development (DFID).The views expressed, however, are notnecessarily those of DFID.

Published by WEDC on behalf of WELL

Although women were not wellreceived initially as mechanics forthe India Mark II handpump, theyare effective, skilful anddependable. One woman,Shambhu, says: ‘People used tolaugh at us in the beginning. Theydidn’t think we could do whatthey said was a man’s job’.

Sudha is a master handpumpmechanic in Tamil Nadu, India.This has allowed her to becomeeconomically self sufficient, withmoney to pay for her children’seducation.

In the Akatsi and Sogakopedistricts of the Volta region,women undergo training invarious technologies for latrineconstruction. In 1996, fivewomen among a host of men, inboth districts, received artisantraining. This was the first timethat women had been trained inconstruction on the project.

ISBN 1-84380-064-0

2004

In South Africa, use of the AquaPrivy ignored the needs of women.For example: the toilets faced thestreet, causing embarrassmentand harassment; when the latrinetank was full, it was a woman’stask to empty it and womenperforming this task could be seento be unmarriageable.

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Source: World Development Bank Report

Gender andDomestic work

Gender andEducation

Gender andHealth

Gender andIncome Generation

The facts

Improved water supplies increaseopportunities for women toimprove their economicproductivity.

Less time dedicated to fetchingwater frees up time for incomegeneration and enterprisedevelopment.

Women can develop particularaspects of income generating workwhich depend on an adequatewater supply.

Why water, sanitation andhygiene?

Water availabilityWomen make direct use of improvedwater services.

The facts

Of the 120 million school-age children not in school, the majority are girls.41% of primary aged girls worldwide, not enrolled at school, are in SouthAsia, and 35% are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Where there are working and well-maintained sanitation facilities for girls,school enrolment increases.

In low and middle income countries the general trend towards equity ineducation is upwards.

Female illiteracy has fallen from 32.6% in 1998 to 29.9% in 2002.Nevertheless, two thirds of illiterates are women.

In rural Pakistan more than 50% of girls drop out of school in grade 2-3because schools do not have latrines.

In 20 schools in Tajikistan all girls choose not to attend when they have theirperiods, as there are no facilities available.

Hygiene behaviourIt is essential to teach childrensanitation-related behaviours such ashandwashing, as they can then becomeagents of change in their families andcommunities, leading to healthimprovements and higher schoolattendance.

The facts

Water, sanitation and hygiene result in widespread community health improve-ments. These are advantageous for women, not only in respect of their ownhealth, but as the main carers of the sick.

There are additional health benefits to women through not having to carryheavy loads long distances, and in respect of pregnancy and childbirth.

Maternal health can be improved; the maternal mortality ratio in sub-SaharanAfrica is 50 times that in developed countries.

Maternal healthA contributory factor to poor maternalhealth is contaminated water and poorhygiene, leading to infection and slowpostnatal recovery.

The facts

Women suffer the double burdenof both household work andeconomic effort.

In Nepal, over 75% of womenwork in agriculture compared to48% of men. In the home, womencarry out all the domestic tasksin 99% of households and in94%, they fetch the water for thefamily.

African and Asian women walkan average of 6km in order tofetch water. Indian women spendon average 2.2 hours per day inthis activity.

Women are disadvantagedbecause they do not haveadequate time for resting, timefor their children and time forengaging in economic activities.

Why water, sanitation andhygiene?

Distance and time to collectwaterProviding local water sources giveswomen more time, takes away theneed to carry heavy loads over longdistance and makes their domesticchores less difficult.

In Nigeria over two years,provision of water, sanitation andhygiene education increasedhand washing by 95%. Schoolattendance, especially amongstgirls, had increased, as had thegeneral health and nutritionalstatus of the community.

Why water, sanitation andhygiene?

In the communityWhen girls no longer have to walklong distances to fetch water, theirschool attendance increases.

In schoolsGirls are less likely to go to school ifthere are not separate and privatesanitation facilities for girls and boys.

Low & middle income

East Asia & PacificMiddle East/ N. AfricaSouth AsiaSub-Saharan Africa

Country classification Ratio of female to male enrolments inprimary and secondary school (%)

1990

83796879

2000

97957982

Gujarati women’s economicproductivity was increased dueto time saved by a new watersupply system. An additionalprogramme of support for thewomen to develop handicraftsaddressed the usual con-straints to taking up newenterprises – lack of funds andaccess to credit.

Tanzanian women devotedmore time to economicactivities such as working inshops, tea-rooms, and sellingproduce (ground nuts, pota-toes, cassava, fruit).

Women potters in Ghana hadtime to increase theirproduction. Also, water wasnow available for cola nut andpalm oil processing and fordistilling Akpeteshie, a localalcoholic drink for sale.

Women’s groups in Senegalbenefited through loans raisedfrom selling water fromcommunity boreholes. Theyset up enterprises selling fruit,vegetables and groundnuts.

WaterAid projects in Indiareduced the incidence ofscabies and diarrhoeal episodes,and child mortality.

Households with a 10 per centincrease in water use forcleaning purposes enjoy adecrease in occurrence ofdiarrhoea of 1.3%.

A yard tap nearly doubles thechances of a mother washingher hands after cleaning achild’s anus, and of her washingfaecally soiled linen immediately.

In Bangladesh in 1998,the provision of water andsanitation facilities increasedgirls’ attendance by 15%.

School attendance by girls hasrisen since the introduction ofwater points in fourcommunities in Arappalipattiand Panjapatti India, with arecorded increase in women’sliteracy levels.

Why water, sanitation andhygiene?

Community and family healthThe incidence of water-related diseasesdecreases with the provision ofimproved water supply, sanitation andhygiene. Women require less time totend the sick. It also enables women tomaintain more hygienic standards ofchildcare.

In Tanzania, increasedavailability of water during andafter childbirth reducedpostnatal infections. The task oftraditional birth attendants wasmade easier by being able toreplenish their stocks of water.Frequent bathing duringmenstruation also improvedwomen’s hygiene.

Time availabilityWomen make use of the time saved.

Community-managedintegrated water sanitation andhygiene (WASH) projects inEthiopia increased the amountof water available for domesticuses from less than 10 litresper day per person to 18-22litres. The length of timewomen spent providing waterfor the family reduced fromaround 6 to 8 hours down to 5to 20 minutes. The womenreported that their domesticchores were easier as theamount of water used was notso severely restricted.

Part of the impact of improvedWASH in Ghana and Tanzania,was the opportunity for womento ‘lie with their husbands untildaybreak’, resulting inimproved marital relations.

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