WUNRN
THE GENDER AND WATER ALLIANCE (GWA)
Welcome to the Gender and
Water Alliance (GWA)
The mission of GWA is to promote women’s and men’s equitable access to and
management of safe and adequate water, for domestic supply, sanitation, food
security and environmental sustainability. GWA believes that equitable access
to and control over water is a basic right for all, as well as a critical
factor in promoting poverty eradication and sustainability.
http://www.genderandwater.org/page/4643
GWA ACTIVITIES
In the years 2006-2010 GWA will concentrate its activities around 5 outputs:
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Women’s Special Water Needs
Find Voice
Hilmi Toros interviews JOKE MUYLWIJK, Executive Director of
Gender and Water
ISTANBUL,
Mar 21 (IPS) - Climate change and corrupt practices are considered root causes
for a potential water crisis of global proportions, leading to scarcity where
water is needed most and flooding where it is needed the least.
The victims
are unmistakeable: women, often poor and powerless.
The irony is
that women know so much about water, but are allowed to say so little about its
use and management, says Joke Muylwijk, executive director of the Gender and
Water Alliance (GWA), an international NGO crusading for gender equality in
water issues with over 1,000 members in some 100 countries.
The gender
issue was at the forefront at the World Water Forum (WWF), a gathering of some
30,000 participants in
Typically,
women from the South were few at the Forum dominated by "men in black
suits", as Muylwijk calls it, leaving it to her and a host of other NGOs
from the North to speak up for gender equality. In between the lobbying, the
Dutch-born Muylwijk spoke to IPS Correspondent Hilmi Toros.
Excerpts
from the interview:
IPS: What
stops women from being centre-stage in the water sector?
Joke
Muylwijk: Many, but the main one is men make the decisions and woman do the
work. We need more women at decision levels and men at working level.
IPS: Can
it be achieved?
JM: Not
right away, but it could get worse if we don’t keep trying. We need to go
step-by-step, beginning with awareness, training and then empowerment. Success
cannot be taken for granted. If access to water gets better in one place, we
have to make sure it remains so. Otherwise, things slide back.
IPS: Any
bright spots and good practices?
JM: Some.
IPS: Such
as?
JM: Women
have special needs in sanitation. It no longer is a taboo - nor should it be -
that we openly discuss that women need special toilets because, unlike men,
they can’t just go to the field. Even if they do, they become vulnerable to
sexual assaults. Some women drink less water so as not to go to the toilet unless
a clean and safe one is available. Also reproductive organs are vulnerable to
dirty water. Some girls actually drop out of school because of lack of adequate
toilets.
After
childbirth, you need clean water but lack of it still kills so many in the 21st
century. It comes from misunderstanding women’s special health needs.
The
encouraging thing is that we are publicly discussing women’s special needs.
It’s a big and positive change. Even our prince (Crown Prince
Wıllem-Alexander of The Netherlands, who was at the Istanbul-Forum)
publicly talks about the need for special toilets for women.
IPS: What
is another major problem apart from sanitation?
JM: It’s in
supply. Tap water in cities is of dubious quality. When women queue for water
at collection points, they are often pushed away by males who get an extra
share and sell it, at times to women at higher prices.
In rural
areas, women are in charge of supply. That’s in addition to being a housewife,
mother and farmer. Demand for sexual favours and rape are not uncommon on the
way to fetching water or at water points. Women feel they can’t return home
without water. Once raped, a girl cannot marry. She is forced into
prostitution. Police protection is rare. Women should go together and don’t
leave girls alone.
IPS: Are
you optimistic about the future?
JM: Let’s be
realistic rather than optimistic. Compared to five years ago, women’s special
needs are being discussed publicly. The trend is there for better
comprehension, but it won’t come about without constant vigilance. There are
power relations. There is widespread corruption. It is entrenched. Corrupt
people do not yet realise that by pocketing money and harassing women, they are
ruining lives and contributing to the death of children. More children die from
water related issues than any other ones.
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