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6. Reflections

We have finally come to the end of my blog series! For my last post, I would like to write about some overall thoughts I have about my research and writing. Although I wrote in my first post about the importance of avoiding written stereotypes of African women’s suffering as Wainaina critiques , I fear I may have fallen into that very trap myself. At the start of my blogs, I wrote at length about the horrific occurrences of gender-based violence as well as the difficulties women and girls face whilst menstruating. However, with blog 4 on African women as agents of water change, I hope I turned the story around and showcased women’s positive interactions with water in the form of empowerment and improved socio-economic outcomes. Furthermore, the cliché Wainaina describes of African women as “passive” and “helpless” remained in my head throughout my research which is why I aimed to showcase examples of successful entrepreneurial African women ( Christelle Kwizera in blog 4, and Kate Ka...
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5. Climate and COP28

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Although Africa only contributes to 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it has been severely affected by climate change with increases in temperatures and extreme weather events ( Bedair et al . 2023) , and it is women who will be disproportionately affected . How will African women be disproportionately affected by climate change? Climate change will deplete natural resources through drought and land degradation, meaning women will have to walk further distances to collect water, as the primary people in charge of this task ( World Bank 2023 ). This will increase their time poverty , meaning less time to spend in education or work, exacerbating socio-economic disparities ( World Bank 2023 ).  Furthermore, environmental challenges can act as a spark for conflict ( Raleigh 2010 ), with a study finding that across 19 sub-Saharan African countries, instances of drought led to an increase in intimate partner violence against women ( Epstein et al. 2020 ). Instances of IPV could ...
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4. Women as Agents of Change

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Throughout my blog posts so far I have focused primarily on the negative gendered impacts women face in connection to water, however, we will be switching it up today to consider how women can be powerful agents of change. Although women bear the primary duties of water collection and household decisions, they are often underrepresented and overlooked regarding resource management in Africa ( Kameri-Mbote 2006 , Acey 2010 ). This is largely down to gendered social norms which relegate women’s participation only to a household level, whereas men control public decision-making ( Eaton et al. 2021 ). However, women’s management of domestic water resources ( Acey 2010 ), means they have valuable knowledge and perspectives to share, on their needs and household supply issues. As a result of this, gender mainstreaming emerged in 1995 as a strategy to tackle gender inequality ( Caglar 2013 ) by considering both women’s and men’s needs and issues throughout all levels of planning and implemen...
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3. The Period Problem

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In light of World Toilet Day taking place yesterday, I thought it would be fitting for today's post to delve into the gendered issues concerning sanitation and hygiene in Africa around menstruation. Despite Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals detailing the aim of ensuring access to clean water and sanitation in what is often referred to as WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), many countries still lack these rights. Figure 1 demonstrates how across the African continent, there is limited access to safely managed sanitation services. Figure 1: % of population using safely managed sanitation services, 2022 (WHO/UNICEF 2023) However, as women face additional barriers and need extra resources for menstrual hygiene management (MHM) ( Pouramin et al. 2020 ) , this creates gendered impacts due to limited WASH facilities.   Gendered impacts of reduced access to WASH facilities Health   1 in 10 reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia’s urban areas experienced reproductive trac...
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2. Gender-based Violence

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Today's post will explore the relationship between access to water and gender-based violence. This is a sensitive topic that impacts many women's lives and so I thought it was important to bring awareness to this subject. Gender-based violence is defined as acts that bring “physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women…whether occurring in public or in private life” ( UN 1994: 3 )   These acts of violence negatively impact women’s health and are a violation of human rights. Whilst this is a global issue, some regions have higher rates than others as seen in figure 1 . This includes both Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa where the percentage of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) occurrences during a lifetime, is 30% and 33% respectively - both above the global average of 27% ( WHO 2021 ).   Figure 1: Regional rates of IPV (WHO 2021) Violence outside the household   Shared toilet facilities create dangers due to the lack of lighting, securit...
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1. An Introduction to Water and Gender

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Hello and welcome to my blog! I am a third-year undergraduate student at UCL and I will be focusing my series of blog posts on the intersections of water and gender in Africa.   Water and Africa How many times do you turn on the tap for water during a single day? Once? Twice? Five times or more? The truthful answer for a lot of us is probably that we don't actually know! It can be very easy to take our access to clean water for granted but many people around the world lack this human right.   Water scarcity refers to when water demand exceeds supply , a problem faced by 1 in 3 Africans . The effects of water insecurity are severe as seen by the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa which in Somalia caused 43000 excess deaths in 2022 alone. The effects of climate change such as increased frequency of droughts and floods will only exacerbate water insecurities in Africa ( Gan et al. 2016 ), making access to safe water for all, one of Africa's biggest priorities today. As part ...
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