WUNRN
Women and the Right to Water
Presentation by Isis International
Panel on Rural Women and the Right to Water
UN CSW 56, New York, 2012
Isis International would like to thank the organisers for inviting us to participate in this panel on Rural Women and the Right to Water. I would also like to acknowledge the Co-founder of Isis International and currently Honorary Member of the Trustees, Marilee Karl, for developing this presentation. This presentation shares a few experiences of women in the Isis International network. We are eager to learn from the other organisations here. We hope that together we can strengthen the struggle of women worldwide for the right to water.
Water is not gender neutral
Too much water, not enough water, polluted water, water too far away, water, water all around but not a drop to drink…..whatever the situation, it impacts women and men differently because of gender inequalities that affect all aspects of life. Water is not gender neutral. People and countries experience these water situations in different ways.
Water cannot be seen in isolation. Climate change has an effect on water, including the increasing numbers and intensity of typhoons and the long seasons of drought that are challenging food production and sanitation and causing increased health problems.
The long road behind us and ahead
After many long years of awareness raising, lobbying and negotiations, water and sanitation was finally recognised by the United Nations as a fundamental human right in 2010. Thousands of civil society organisations took part in national and international campaigns to work towards this recognition. Now we are working to make this right a reality.
The nearly universal responsibility of women for the provision of water for family use is now well documented. We now know that the task of collecting water can be very arduous, and that it becomes ever more difficult in conditions of drought, pollution or diversion of water for other uses. This was not always the case.
Slowly awakening to reality
The knowledge of women’s water-related responsibilities and tasks only began to come onto the development agenda in the 1980s, and then only slowly. Represented by Marilee Karl, Isis International was one of the trainers in the first gender analysis training programme at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in the late 1980s. Back then it was imperative to show that gender analysis would make development projects and programmes more efficient and increase their chances of success. Efficiency was the key word. And water projects were a prime example.
One of the cases used was that of a water project in Mexico: a large development agency implemented a project to provide running water to a number of villages. The agency provided pumps and trained villagers to use and maintain them. A year later, a project team went back to see how things were working out. They found many of the pumps in disrepair. As it turned out, the agency had trained the men in the use and maintenance of the pumps, unaware that the women were the ones responsible for water.
Leaving feminism and rights at the door
Things have changed, but at that time there was no place in gender analysis training to talk about the right to water or the empowerment of women. This attitude has more or less prevailed as we move up the scale from village water projects to water providers associations, large-scale water projects and the controversial issues raised by the increasing privatisation of the distribution of water and even of water itself. The connections still need to be made between the right to water, gender inequalities and empowerment of women.
Real-life women and water stories
I would like to share with you some real-life women and water stories
that show the connections of water, climate change and gender inequalities.
Bangladesh – my house under water
Rasheda Begum from Bangladesh is a climate change refugee, also known as a climate change induced forced migrant. Such people are forced to move from their homes into new areas because of the changes in the environment that threaten their livelihoods and homes, such as rising sea levels, lack of water, storms, and flooding. Radheda says:
I
used to have a house, about half a kilometer away from the shore in Khudiar Tek
in the island Kutubdia. Unfortunately, this was washed away by the devastating
cyclone in 1991. My neighbors and I had to move farther to a safer place. So I
built a hut beside an embankment that was three kilometers from the shore. Like
my neighbors, I have always felt this unexplained horror over the thought of
fleeing to an unknown destination. I guess this fear is based on the fact that,
unlike men, our movement as women has always been restricted.
In
2007, we left the island and settled in an urban slum at the outskirts of the
sea resort town of Cox's Bazaar. The place severely lacks civic amenities and
services. Here we face an even more distressing situation. Every day, I have to
think of how to feed my family. My children and I are employed as daily
laborers at the local fish processing and drying businesses that are seasonal
in nature. This means being in an extremely unhygienic working environment. I
am constantly worried for my three grown up daughters because there is no rule
of law for the poor, especially for slum dwellers.”
Kenya: where has all the water gone?
Veronica Nzoki has been a resident of Endui in the Mwingi District in
eastern Kenya for almost 50 years. She can still remember how the water flowed
throughout the year, enabling them to grow food that helped them survive the
dry spells. But this is no longer possible. She tells us:
“Crops have failed for the last two seasons and livestock have been starving to death. For the first time, Kiiya Dam, which was constructed by the colonial government more than 50 years ago, dried up completely in 2009. This has never happened before... We (women) leave at six o'clock in the morning to the nearest spring. We find a long queue. By the time we draw water and get back home, it is well past mid-day. This leaves us with no energy for other activities. For those of us with small businesses, we have to close them down or leave them unattended to fetch water for our households and businesses.”
Niger Delta: water and oil
Ayibakuro Warder, a mother of five children, lives in the Niger Delta region. While she is employed in the local government, she remains engaged in fishing and farming to support her family. But much of her time is devoted to activities as a leader of women in her community as well as the whole clan. She says:
As
a child near the delta, I remember that my parents used to gather greater
harvests from their farming and fishing activities. The sizes of cassava and
plantain were incomparable to the present yields. Our fish ponds, lakes and
creeks have likewise suffered from incessant oil spills. The people are one in
their opinion that the smaller and fewer harvests could only be attributed to
pollution coming from the oil extraction activities near the delta...
Worse, health problems, especially among our children, arise. With our sources
of income gone, we are left confused as to where to seek medical help. Several
women also died as a result of oil spills.
In
2007, an oil spill took place. The women of Ikarma lost all the cassava that
they soaked in the creek. The oil spill likewise destroyed the traps that we
set for fishing. I then led a women's protest in front of Shell's office at the
Kolocreek Logistic Base.
But
regardless of the cause of the oil spill, whether because of sabotage or
equipment failure, Shell has never found it fair to compensate its victims.
Instead, it deploys its military personnel to intimidate the community from
airing their grievances.
Women taking action
While these stories have shown
women’s struggles, women and community based organisations are taking action.
Veronica Nzoki, for instance, is chairperson of the Endui Water Users
Association in
Helping women make their voices heard
These stories present two sides of
women's reality. On the one hand, women are the most affected by water and
climate change crises because of long-standing gender inequalities; yet on the
other, they are active agents in addressing immediate and strategic solutions
to water and climate change issues. Gender
is often overlooked in discussions about strategies to solve water issues. Even
if women are recognised as mainly responsible for the provision of water at the
household level, the dominant perspective is that women are victims or members
of vulnerable groups, instead of agents of change, leaders and decision-makers.
The voices of women need to be heard if women are to claim the right to
water. The increasing involvement
of women’s organisations and gender specialists is helping to change this.
Communication strategies
Communication strategies are needed to help women to bring their experiences and views to the fore. Isis International believes that the access and participation of women in communication can contribute to social justice and the empowerment of women in the global south.
Activist Schools
Isis International’s work in the
field of communications sees women not only as receivers of knowledge but
producers as well. This principle is carried out in Isis International’s
Activist Schools for Feminist Development Communications, launched in 2010. The
Schools aim to strengthen social movements and advocacies through the strategic
use of media and information and communication technologies (ICTs). Our experience shows that grassroots
women find creative ways to use communications tools to get their messages
across.
Isis International welcomes working in partnership and collaboration with other organisations in developing and conducting activist schools. We would also like to continue to collect and publish the voices and experience of women on water issues, in cooperation with other organisations. Together, we can work towards making the right to water a reality for women.
Thank you!