Gendered sanitation

Hello everyone! Today I will be exploring gendered water and sanitation as well as highlighting an exemplar case study from Egypt, North Africa.

Femme WASH

Traditionally, WASH has been gendered as females have an integral role in engaging with water and sanitation responsibilities, arguably more than men (MacArthur et al. 2020).  These domestic responsibilities include fetching water, cooking, cleaning, caring. However, the implications of these gendered experiences highlight female struggle. The poor WASH conditions make women susceptible to worsened health including back injuries, stunted development of young girls and nutrient deficiencies (Pommells et al. 2018). Furthermore, poor WASH is linked to sexual, psychological, physical and sociocultural violence (Sommer et al. 2014). Unfortunately, these implications occur through inadequate, far away facilities which increases the risk of sexual violence, fights when queuing, domestic violence from husbands and menstruation complications (Sommer et al. 2014). Menstruation remains to be an ‘overlooked and poorly addressed’ issue but this neglect is a result of the male dominated expertise of water and sanitation engineering and the various cultural norms and taboo’s (Giles-Hansen et al. 2019: 236; Tilley et al. 2013).

Despite, females being instrumental to WASH and bearing the brunt of implications, they are rarely given the opportunity to participate, see figure 1. This exclusion is due to cultural taboos and restrictions posed by their male counterparts and so, this neglect is a key determinant in the failure of various WASH projects (Tsekleves et al. 2022).

Figure 1: Cartoon highlighting gendered sanitation 

Empower not disempower

In the early 2000s, a village in upper Egypt, Nazlet Fargallah approached the Better Life Association for Comprehensive Development (BLACD) who used a gender-integrated approach to improve water connectivity, install household toilets and educate communities (Hamman, 2006). This project was successful and saw the provision of 700 households with two taps, a latrine and increased education on hygiene (Hamman, 2006). Most importantly the gender-sensitive approach allowed women to overcome existing power structures, cultural taboos and resistance from male family members. Astonishingly though, the project successfully integrated women into programme operations, decision making as well as prioritising the needs of women (Hamman, 2006). Although it has been 10 years, Egypt has continued to push for gender equality and women’s empowerment through supporting education, promoting female entrepreneurship, community leadership and protecting the most vulnerable (USAID, 2022).

Moving forward, we must consider schemes to improve WASH standards but also create resilient and equal communities. Join me in my last post where we touch upon Cop-27 discussions.