By: Shraeya Iyer – Credit: The Myriad News
Shraeya Iyer examines the effects of the water crisis on a woman’s life: the barriers against education, dangers of walking for water, effects on pregnancy and impacts on children.
Millions of people throughout the world still lack access to clean water and sanitation
785 million people do not have access to clean water, two billion people lack access to clean toilets and sanitation and one million people are left dead each year from diseases caused by dirty water. Each year, millions of women walk long distances just to stand in line, paying large sums of money all to attain clean water to help their families survive. Even after successfully collecting their water, women are faced with disease from dirty water or death from their refusal to drink it. The water crisis creates an impossible situation, where women have no time for school, work or to care for their families.
The urban slums, coastal regions and hilly terrains of Bangladesh are all devastated by dirty water
In their population of 165 million, five million people lack access to clean water and 85 million lack access to safe sanitation in Bangladesh.The poor quality of water leads to increased disease, negatively impacting neonatal mortality. 20 percent of neonatal deaths in Bangladesh during 2015 were due to sepsis. The barriers against safe drinking water and sanitation cause diarrhea, malnutrition and other illnesses. These prevent children from receiving an education and require their mothers to take care of them instead of working.
Water quality and access are low in both rich and poor households, but disparity still exists between them. While the rich likely have running water in their homes, poor families are forced to seek their water from outside or public sources. From the poor families collecting water, 89.6 percent those collecting water were women, while only 4.6 percent were male.
Rural areas in Honduras lead to longer walks and higher disease rates
With a population of 9.27 million people, the rural access to basic water services in Honduras is only 70 percent, and to basic sanitation services is only 76 percent. The Central American country gives way to many hurricanes which leave 75% of the population without access to water. Many families resort to using contaminated water for their daily usage, which is collected by women and girls over six hour spans during the day.
During Hurricane Mitch in 1963, most water pipelines were devastated. Hondurans relied on these pipelines for their clean and affordable water source. Without them, another 15 percent of the population does not have proper access to clean water or sanitation. Most residents of Honduras do not have pipelines in their homes, leaving women to collect water from polluted streams, brooks and lakes. These bodies of water are used as a bathroom for livestock, causing diarrhea.
Women are disproportionately affected by the lack of clean water
Women and girls are responsible for gathering water used to bathe and drink for their families. Water is essential, from cooking, drinking and cleaning to sanitation and hygiene. In one day alone, women across the world spend 200 million hours collecting water.
In addition, women must walk a collective 266 million hours each day to find a clean defecation site. In these total hours, women are not able to attend school or generate income through micro-enterprises, or any small businesses they may start. Women are at increased risk of violence while traveling through rural areas while searching for water.
In the time spent walking for water, women must carry full water containers on their heads, which weigh up to 20 kilograms. Women spend days each year searching for an adequate bathroom, placing themselves in increased danger of physical and sexual violence.
Easily accessible clean water is essential to a healthy pregnancy
For most women, the strenuous treks to attain water is exhausting, but for pregnant women, it is a health hazard. Clean and safe drinking water is essential to the health of pregnant women and their unborn children. Without it, illness and dehydration inflicts serious harm to the baby’s physical and mental health.
The walk for water can put a serious strain on the bodies of pregnant women, from the increased amount of exercise and the burden of the heavy tins of water. Carrying the 20 kilogram containers of water leaves many women with twisted spines, leading to childbirth and birth defects later in the woman’s life. Even after childbirth, clean water is crucial for a mother to be able to breastfeed their infants, as dirty water can cause harmful side effects to a mother’s breast milk supply.
Education for girls is heavily affected by the water crisis
Gender inequality in the water crisis drastically impacts children, leaving many girls without the ability to read and write. Preventable diarrhea is a deadly threat to infants and younger children, which leads to cognitive challenges and stunted growth.
Since girls are forced to spend hours collecting water for their families, they are stripped of the opportunity to attend school. Adolescent girls miss weeks of school each year due to improper sanitation and menstruation products. In Bangladesh, Honduras and other countries affected by the water crisis, most schools do not have access to clean toilets.
Without access to sanitary toilets at school, many girls are forced to miss weeks of school or drop out entirely, because they do not have a place to change their pads or menstruation cloths. These inequalities in education result in 25 percent of girls not finishing elementary school, while six in seven boys finish their elementary school education. This leads to women making up 67 percent of all illiterate adults. .
Access to clean water and sanitation gives women more opportunities
The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal Number Six (SDG6) states by 2030, we need to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”
However, since many women do not have the possibility of economic advancement because of their societal role in the house, they are stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty. Many women and girls are excluded from important decisions, such as local elections and are not properly represented by their government.
Implementing free public toilets and water stations are the first step to solving the water crisis. Once women are given the resources to build their own businesses, they are then able to start earning a salary. They can use this salary as a tool to gain a voice in their society. The water crisis causes a dangerous situation for millions of women throughout the world, not allowing them to get a proper education, maintain proper sanitation and causing negative health consequences.