Water scarcity in developing countries adversely affects women’s health and education because women and girls around the world expend a total of over 200m hours daily collecting and hauling water.
Approximately 71% of the water fetched and gathered for household use in sub-Saharan Africa falls to the females of the family.
Why is Improving Women’s Access to Water Vital?
Water scarcity leaves women particularly vulnerable because in much of the developing world, subsistence agriculture is dominated by women; unfortunately, tenuous land rights can rapidly lead to the loss of access to water, which in turn will lead to more abject poverty and hunger.
The precarious legal status of women in developing countries combined with the burden of the daily struggle of sourcing water becomes a harsh barrier to the equality and economic empowerment of women. Women use the water for household chores and to prepare food to sell, and the girls who spend hours collecting water every day miss out on classroom time, which perpetuates the same cycle of poverty their mothers and grandmothers experienced.
Policymakers frequently exclude women from local determinations that would have an impact on women’s rights to water; this forces them outside the margins of discussions regarding water usage when they should, by rights, have a seat at the table and be at the centre of any discussions regarding water usage and access to water.
It is a known fact that no matter where in the world, women often make many of the family’s purchasing decisions, so it is vital that companies searching for business opportunities in emerging markets take cognisance of this fact and make women and their access to water the core of their long-term planning and strategy.
Companies that implement such plans will drastically improve both the health and economic security for millions of women in developing countries, will lift them out of poverty and can avert social unrest should there be water shortages. Unburdening women from their water-collection burdens and improving their access to water will allow them to devote to more time to lucrative economic activities which will strengthen families and communities and create a better economic climate.
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