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The
GENDER Millennium Development Goal
What
water, sanitation and hygiene can do in India
This
Country Note provides evidence for the impact of
water supply, sanitation and improved hygiene on
gender equality In India
Compiled
by: Issac John, SEUF
Edited
by: Frank Odhiambo, WEDC
Headline
facts
The
MDGs are strongly inter-dependent and programme
interventions must reflect this. Water,
sanitation and hygiene deliver outcomes across the
MDGs.
Why is water,
sanitation and hygiene so important for women and
girls?
-
Gender
and Domestic Work - protected and
improved water supply reduces the burden of
domestic tasks and gives women more time to care
for children and for productive purpose.
-
Gender
and Income Generation - protected and
improved water supply reduces the chances of
disease and provides time and money for
women to form Self Help Groups and income
generation activities.
-
Gender
and Education - attendance/enrolment of
girls will improve when the availability of
improved water supply at habitat level and
provision of separate sanitation facilities for
boys and girls at schools increases.
-
Gender
and Health - protected and improved
water and availability of latrine facilities at
community level, will encourage women to develop
hygienic habits and transform this benefit to
all at home and to the community.
-
Gender
and Social Mobility - protected and
improved water and availability of latrine
facilities provide women with physical, mental
and social happiness, status and saves time to
enable them to participate in activities at
community level.
Gender
and Domestic Work
The facts
-
Women
and girls are estimated to carry on an average
150 litres of water per day in summer months.
-
On
an average, a woman has to make ten trips to the
water source to fetch 150 litres water (for a
family of four). This is equivalent to a 5Km
walk and takes at least 2 hours, excluding any
waiting time.
-
Women
and girls carry the burden in providing water
for households along with other domestic
activities.
-
The
opportunity cost for women fetching water is
Rs.6per day. At this rate, water cost Rs.40 per
cum - far higher than the cost of water provided
in cities.
Why water,
sanitation and hygiene?
Women
in Indian communities are the primary carriers and
water users. Providing water source at a reasonable
(250 mtrs) distance gives women more time for rest,
time for their children and reduces the effort of
carrying heavy loads of water to their home.
-
In a study conducted by Planet
Kerala in five Panchayat covered under
Jalanidhi Project Found that women in
low-income house holds could save 123 minutes
on an average due to the supply of drinking
water.
-
The drudgery of fetching
water washing cloths & vessels etc are
also reduced.
Gender
and Income Generation
The facts
Why
water, sanitation and hygiene?
Protected
and improved water supply and sanitation provides
the time to learn new skills and to undertake income
generation activities. Women
make direct use of improved water services
-
With the support of Unicef
10 rural sanitary Mart,10 production centers
were started by the women's groups in Alappey,
Kottayam and Malappuram districts of Karala
State.
-
In Kerala State, under the
Jalanidi (World Bank aided CMWSS project,
Kerala) project, after commissioning of the
project, women in different Gram Panchayt
formed Self Help Groups and ran micro-
enterprises like diary unit, coconut drying
unit, curry powder making unit, paper making,
umbrella making unit, grocery shop,
restaurants etc. This project had
opportunities.
-
In Uttranchel womens’
economic productivity was increased due to
time saved by a new water supply system
installed by the Swajal Project. An additional
programme of support for the women extended to
learn new skills to develop handicrafts.
-
Women's Group in Anjengo a
costal village with high density of population
(3.3 sq km, 4174 households,
population of 16742) constructed “ Pay and
Use Latrine Unit” and making profit of
Rs.1400 per month after all expenses.
-
In Kerala masons’ jobs
are monopolized by men, women remain unskilled
helpers. Dutch Danish supported Water and
Sanitation programme provided training to
women to undertake promotion and construction
of low cost latrine construction. Now the
women masons are given the same wages as
masons.
Gender
and Education
The facts
-
The education gap
between boys and girls is narrowing and the
dropout rate continues to be high among girls.
Less than 50 per cent complete Grade V.
-
Boys are given
priority in education over girls.
-
Gross enrolment
ratio: females as 84% of males, in primary
school in 2003.
-
Adults literacy:
females as 66% of males in 2003.
Why
water, sanitation and hygiene?
When girls no longer have to
walk long distances to fetch water, their school
attendance increases. Girls are free to attend
schools that have separate adequate and hygienic
toilet facility for girls and boys. Provision of
girl friendly toilets enables adolescent girls to
attend classes during menstruation.
-
The absence of safe
drinking water and toilets in many schools in
Rajasthan’s Alwar district used to make
children fall ill frequently and seriously
affect the enrolment and retention of
students, especially girls.
-
School attendance by girls
has risen since the introduction of water
points in four communities in Arappalipatti
and Panjappatti in Tamil Nadu, India.
-
Baby Friendly Toilets, as
promoted by Unicef
in Tamil nadu and Kerala State, give toiletry practice for the 3 to 5
years age group.
Gender
and Health
The facts
-
Lack of privacy
affects women more, compelling them to wait for
convenient times, (early morning late evening)
thereby delaying defecation. This causes health
hazards.
-
Women also have to
face security problems when they have to go out
at night or early morning.
-
The peculiarity of
Indian culture magnifies these problems.
Why
water, sanitation and hygiene?
Provision
of water and sanitation facilities at home helps
the women more than men in performing the
routines. Non-availability of proper sanitary
facilities would cause gynaecological problems
such as urinary infection and white discharge
among the women. Health education will enable
women to maintain more hygienic standards in
behaviour practices of family members.
-
Dutch Danish supported
projects in Perathura (costal village) and
Rananttukara reduced the incidences of cholera
and diarrhoeal diseases.
-
Water Aid projects in India
reduced the incidence of scabies and
diarrhoeal episodes, and child mortality.
-
SWACH(SIDA assisted)
project in Rajasthan reduced the incidences of
guinea worm cases.
Maternal
Health
-
Non-availability
of proper sanitary facilities would cause
gynaecological problems such as urinary
infection and white discharge among the women.
-
Infant mortality rate
(Below 5 years-UNICEF) reduced to 2.7%
Gender
and Social Mobility The
Facts
Why
water, sanitation and hygiene? Provision
of water and sanitation facilities will relieve the
drudgery of domestic work and give them time to
socialise with others. Reduced incidents of
diseases will relive them from tending the sick
family members.
Women's status in the
community and family
-
In SWACH project the idea
of women hand pump mechanics was floated in
one of the animators training in October 1988
at Banswara. Most of the animators showed
interest in taking up hand pump training. But
their families rejected the idea and said
mechanics was a man’s job not women’s work
and women cannot handle hammers and pipes and
do the hard manual work of a mechanic. The
village men who used to laugh at these women
and doubted their skill, today speak very high
of them. The unmarried girls say they are
highly sought as brides.
-
“If the villagers of
Gkhantar in the arid deserts Western Gujarat
have supply of sweet water today, they have
their women to thank” says Reema, of
SEWA.SEWA supported women from the village got
the brackish village pond excavated and lined
it with water-proof polythene to keep the
rainwater in and salt out.
-
Assam Public Health
Engineering Department with support of UNICEF
launched Village Level Operation &
management, under this project 2500 pumps are
looked after by women in the two blocks of
Kamarup district and they enjoy their new
found status and take pride in their work.
-
The ordinary women who were
members of the ward water committees in the
RNE supported watsan project in Kerala were
elected as Grama Panchayath members in the
succeeding elections.
Key
References
-
Jalavaani-NGO.
-
Jalavaani-State-Assam.
-
A note on SWACH-by
swach Project Rajasthan.
-
Strategies and
Approaches for Community based Initiatives, A
source book on Environmental Hygiene Promotion
Socio-Economic Units, Kerala 1995.
-
The Community
Managed Sanitation Programme in Kerala, Learning
From experience,IRC,1996.
-
Fresh Water for
India’s Children and Nature,Unicef,WWF.1998,
UNICEF,
http://www.irc.nl/page/9497.
This Country Note is part
of a series based upon the six WELL Millennium
Development Goal Briefing Notes
For
further information contact:
Socio
Economic Unit Foundation
Easwaravilasom
Road, Post Bag 507
Thycud
Trivandrum
India
Phone:
+91 471 2325907
Fax:
+91 471 2325914
Email:
seufhq@sift.com
and seuf@md2.vsnl.net.in Website:
www.seuf.org
WELL Water,
Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) Loughborough
University Leicestershire
LE11 3TU UK Email:
well@lboro.ac.uk Phone:
+44 (0)1509 228304 Fax:
+44 (0)1509 223970
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