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Gender perspectives on water supply and sanitation:

Gender perspectives on water supply and sanitation:

Towards a sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem-based approach to sanitation1 

Carolyn Hannan

Ingvar Andersson

 

Water supplies and sanitation in the context of sustainable livelihoods  

       Achievement of sustainable development requires attention to the securing of sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction. Prmotion of sustainable livelihoods has to be based on a holistic framework which takes into account the total environment in which individuals, households and communities operate. This includes the natural environment (natural resources), the built environment (infrastructure and services), the economic and political environment and the socio-cultural environment (regulatory mechanisms, rights frameworks, etc.) which influence the management and distribution of resources and services. An important element in this framework is the interaction of individuals, households and communities with all parts of their environments and the impact of this interaction on the total environment. Issues of rights, access to and control over resources and services and potential to take decisions on critical issues related to livelihoods are integral to sustainable development and poverty reduction strategies.  

       Water supplies and sanitation are critical elements in a sustainable livelihoods strategy, being directly related to issues of access to and control over natural resources as well as basic infrastructure and services. Freshwater is a scarce resource and unless drastic improvements in water use efficiency and pollution control occur, 4 billion people – half the world's population - will live in countries with high water stress by year 2025 (Cosgrove and Rijsberman, 2000). Most of the affected countries are located in the South and poor people will be the main victims. Land degradation, loss of soil fertility and declining crop productivity are other threats to sustainable livelihoods for the South. At present more than 800 million people, 15 percent of the world population and predominantly women and children, get less than 2,000 calories a day (ibid). The present situation with regard to water supply and sanitation is alarming. Recent estimates indicate that 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe water in adequate supply for household use (WHO/UNICEF/WSSCC, 2000). In addition, it is estimated that around 2.4 billion people today lack adequate sanitation (ibid). Nearly three million children, five years of age or younger, die of diarrhoea annually (Esrey and Andersson, 1999). 

       Sucessful improvements to water supplies and sanitation requires an understanding of the interconnectedness of water and sanitation. It is well established today that the benefits of water supply will not be forthcoming unless attention is also given to sanitation (Andersson, 1996). And there is growing awareness that improvements to sanitation can bring greater health benefits than improvements to water supply (Esray, 1996 and 1991; UNICEF, 1993). There is also greater recognition of the fact that inadequate improvements to sanitation can be worse than no improvements at all, particularly in the case of sanitation approaches which use scarce freshwater resources and risk contaminating water sources. A maxim gaining popularity is: Never consider water without sanitation and always consider sanitation with water (ibid). 

       It is important to bring gender perspectives to the centre of attention in development of strategies to promote sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction. Such strategies cannot succeed if they leave out the perceptions, knowledge, contributions, needs and priorities of 50 percent of the population, i.e. women and girls. Historically, work on sustainable development has not given systematic attention to gender perspectives. Approaches have often been focused on community level, and even when the household level is addressed there is a persistent tendency to presume that households are cohesive units based on principles of solidarity and complementarity. Possible conflict of interests and competition  within households, including between women and men, are ignored along with critical issues of equity and power2.  

       There is a serious lack of attention to relevant gender perspectives in much of the research on water and sanitation and in critical policy and strategy developments at global, regional, national and local levels3. Innovative research is, however, being done on gender and sustainable development, including in the area of  water supply and sanitation. Work by Agarwall and Narain (undated) has documented successful community-based management of natural resources in India where rainwater harvesting led to eco-restoration and poverty alleviation. Their report directly links the acheivements made to the identification and addressing of equity issues. It was argued that gender equality was a factor of critical importance to ecological regeneration programmes. Unfortunately, much of the research on gender perspectives on natural resource management, including on water supply and sanitation, has had far too little impact on policy and strategy development. 

Improvements to water supply and sanitation  

       A number of failings in the approach to improvements to water supply and sanitation over the past few decades have been identified.4 A major failing in many of the earliest programmes was the dependence on highly sophisticated technology. The focus was on uses of water rather than on users and this resulted in a lack of focus on people - women and men and girls and boys – in the development of the policies and programmes. There was little consultation, poor levels of participation and the realities and needs of women and men were not taken into account in planning. There has, however, been a serious effort over the past two decades to move towards more community-based approaches, shifting from centrally- to locally managed programmes, and including improvements to traditional approaches (Andersson, 1996; Andersson et al, 1991). Unfortunately this positive development has not always adequately incorporated gender perspectives. 

       A second problem in working with water supplies and sanitation was the high level of compartmentalization in the sector. Management of water resources was organized along narrow sectoral lines with different sub-sectors, such as household water supplies, irrigation, flood control, wetlands preservation, fisheries, coastal management and hydro-electric power developed through separate policies, strategies and even managed by separate independent agencies. Investments in these sub-sectors, carried out in isolation, do not tackle the root causes of problems of water resource management. These problems or challenges are rarely solely connected to absolute resource constraints, but are often closely linked to socio-cultural, economic, political and institutional factors which govern the ways water resources are utilized and managed, as well as the extent to which different groups in society are able to gain access to water resources for their specific needs. An important development during the last decade has thus been the emergence of a more holistic view of water management, even though the linkages to other sectors, such as health, agriculture, education and transport, are still too weak. A related major shift has involved the recognition that the perception of water as a free good led, in many cases, to unjust allocations, wastage and environmental problems. Water resources management must be based on the perception of water as both a finite and vulnerable resource. A persistent problem is, however, the failure to understand the improvements to water supply and sanitation as a process of social change, thus requiring a strong focus on the users and the identification of both women and men as actors and change agents in the process.  

       It is difficult to generalize on the gender perspectives in relation to improvements to water supply and sanitation, given that women and men are not homogenous groups and gender relations are very context-specific. Some generic findings have, however, emerged over the past few decades. At a general level, in many parts of the South women have less access to education and other resources such as extension services and credit; have heavier work burdens; are more constrained by poor health; have a lower social status; and are poorly represented in decision-making at both household and community levels. There are often considerable differences and inequalities between women and men in terms of the potential for having their voices heard and making viable choices on important issues in their lives. In relation to water supply and sanitation, it is well accepted that women and men usually make different, and sometimes unequal, contributions to water and sanitation management at household level and community level in the South5. Women collect water for household use and manage water in the households, in the sense of ensuring an adequate supply and keeping it clean while stored in the house. Women also often play key community management roles in relation to domestic water supply at community level in many areas, in some cases including construction and maintenance of traditional sources, although these roles are less well documented. Women's actual and potential roles in promoting more sustainable use and management of water resources at both household and community levels are not well understood or built upon. 

       The gender perspectives on sanitation are less well established. While men in most areas in the South do the construction of latrines, women are usually responsible for keeping them clean and useable. Women assist children, the aged and the sick with their hygiene and sanitation needs. Women also take the main responsibility for socializing children into the use of latrines and for providing health/hygiene education for children. Women's perceptions, needs and priorities in relation to sanitation can be quite different from men's. Research in East Africa indicated that safety (particularly for children) and privacy were the main concerns of women. Women wanted to be sure that their children would not fall into the holes and they wanted doors which could be closed to prevent passers-by from looking in (Hannan-Andersson, 1984).  What men want in relation to sanitation has never been adequately assessed. Sanitation programmes, as with many other development programmes, have been built around assumptions on some sort of "gender-neutral" person who does not exist in reality. Men's interests, needs and priorities in relation to sanitation may well be as neglected as women's. 

       Last, but not least, ecological sanitation should be promoted more widely in the interests of the girl-child. The rights of the girl-child, which have been in focus since the Beijing Conference in 1995,6 should include access to appropriate and adequate sanitation. It is against human dignity and wellbeing that girls in some parts of the world have to face a lifetime of the discomfort, lack of privacy, indignity, ill-health and other risks associated with systems where they are forced to urinate and defecate in open sites away from the community and only at specific limited times.7  It has also been known for some time that lack of adequate sanitation facilities, in particular from a privacy perspective, has implications for the education of girls. Parents are reluctant to send their girls to school in some parts of the world where school-level sanitation is inadequate. Experience from Tanzania in the 1980s revealed that parents sometimes took their girls out of primary school altogether because of poor sanitation facilities. In other cases girls' schooling was irregular because they could not go to school during menstration, due to inadequate facilities.8 

       Attention to gender perspectives in water and sanitation programmes has often been limited to analysis of women's contributions relative to men's, and the impacts on women in terms of anticipated benefits, within the framework of the existing division of responsibilities. The status quo in relation to roles, resources and power has been accepted as given. Emphasis has been on women as a group rather than on the relations between women and men, including the division of labour, access to and control over resources and decision-making (Hannan, 2000). The strategy to increase women's involvement in water supply and sanitation improvements has focused on increasing women's participation at the project level. Often the type of participation encouraged has been determined by the perception of women as only having "domestic" consumer roles. Despite the role of women in hygiene and sanitation at household level, latrine construction programmes which provide income-generation opportunities in communities often presume that only men will be interested in, or suited to, involvement in training programmes and credit schemes established to develop entrepreneurship in this area. The management roles of women have been ignored as well as the possibilities and need for bringing women into more political discussions of community water supply. It has also been presumed that participation is automatically positive for women. The possible socio-economic costs involved, given the multitude of other responsibilities women have, are normally not considered (Cleaver, 1997, 1998; Hannan, 2000).  

       There has been been little focus on the inherent constraints to the achievement of gender equality goals in the institutions, structures and processes within the sector. While the assumption is that the sector is neutral from a gender perspective, there are, in reality, a number of key biases operating in the sector which have a dual negative impact in maintaining (or even increasing gender inequalities) and inhibiting the achievement of sector goals9. These biases include: general preferential attention to men as discussants, informants and participants and discrimination against women who are also actors and stakeholders in the sector; failure to adequately value the reproductive work of women in household water management, leading to a perception of women's contributions as secondary and supportive rather than central to the sector; treatment of households and communities as undifferentiated homogeneous units, leading to the neglect of equality and power issues; and the perception of women as dependents of men (Hannan, 2000). 

Ecological sanitation: an alternative route to sustainable livelihoods 

       Over 90 percent of the sewerage in the South is discharged untreated, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas and thus causing the spread of waterborne diseases (Esray and Andersson, forthcoming). The dumping of human exreta into the sea destroys marine life and greatly reduces the potential of the sea and coastal areas to support food security. Conventional approaches to sanitation - the "flush-and-discharge" model and the "drop-and-store" model - can cause both environmental and health problems. The "flush-and-discharge" model wastes scarce resources of freshwater and can contaminate water sources, causing serious health health risks (Esray and Andersson, 1999). Even the very simple "drop-and-store" models, such as the pit latrines used in many parts of Africa, have their limitations and risks. They cannot be used in areas with impenetrable ground and high water-tables or where flooding is a problem. There is a risk that groundwater will be contaminated with pathogens from pit latrines, threatening the water supply. Furthermore, certain disease vectors breed in humid pits causing diseases such as filariasis, yellow fever and arboviruses (Esray and Andersson, forthcoming). Pit latrines can also be rejected by potential users because of smells and flies. In addition, a limitation in both models is the failure to return natural fertilizers contained in human excreta to the land which means that a valuable resource (human excreta) which could restore depleted soils is wasted. Chemical fertilizers are then required which, in turn, deplete other valuable resources, such as fossil fuels and phosphate. Such an approach is not sustainable and will ultimately diminish food supplies (Esrey and Andersson, 2000a).  

       Ecological sanitation is an ecosystem approach to waste disposal based on three key principles - that sanitation should be safe from a health perspective, "green" or non-polluting, and be based on principles of reuse and recycling of the valuable nutrients in human excreta (Esrey and Andersson, 2000b). There are two basic techniques in ecological sanitation. One is urine-diversion, in which urine and faeces are kept separate. In the second technique urine and faeces are combined and the product is composted. In each type of ecological sanitation it is possible to manage urine and faeces collection with little or no water, and it is also possible to keep the end product out of ground and surface waters (ibid). Alternative ecological sanitation systems can make an invaluable contribution to sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction, including in urban areas, by increasing food security through the return of nutrients from excreta to the soil to increase soil fertility and by reducing pollution and health risks. Such systems also impact positively on food security through better management of scarce water resources and contribute to health through reducing transmission of disease and increasing nutritional intake (ibid). The compost produced can be sold or used in existing agricultural production. The establishment of home gardens and sale of produce can be facilitated and the resulting increased income can lead to greater nutritional well-being for families. The establishment of an ecological sanitation system can create opportunities for local entrepreneurs to design and build toilets as well as provide training on the building of the toilets and the use of the end product, creating further income generation potential. In addition, these systems foster decentralized management systems, with potential for empowering people, providing for local livelihoods and enhancing community cohesion. Ecological sanitation approaches are far more feasible than conventional sanitation systems both financially and environmentally (ibid) and thus offer more from a sustainable livelihood and poverty reduction perspective. This paper contends, however, that the contribution of ecological sanitation will be significantly enhanced if gender perspectives are an integral part of future developments. 

       Ecological sanitation is an attempt to move away from linear solutions of waste disposal towards a system based on a circular flow of nutritients. It considers human excreta a resource and not a waste to be disposed of as far away as possible. Ecological sanitation is environmentally sound - when excreta are recovered, rendered safe, and recycled into soil, no pollution occurs and the environment is protected (ibid).10 Experience to date has shown that in some areas cultural resistance to handling and using human excreta has to be specifically addressed. Contrary to popular misconceptions, the use of human excreta as a fertilizer is by no means a new innovation. The use of human excreta in agriculture has a long history. Today ecological sanitation is being tried in many areas in the South  - because of high watertables, excessive water pollution, lack of fresh water, declining ecosystems, and the high cost of fertilizers. It is being implemented in more than half of the provinces in China and in southern India, the Horn of Africa down into South Africa and Central America (Esrey and Andersson, 2000a). People need to be informed / convinced that faeces can be processed and converted into humus, with all the typical characteristics of humus from other sources: pleasant smelling and easy to handle (Esrey and Andersson, 2000b). 

       The gender perspectives on ecological sanitation have not yet been specifically explored. Women are actively involved in food crop production and concerned about food security in many parts of the South and would be directly affected by increased access to soil nutrients provided through ecological sanitation and potential for increasing food production, including through small vegetable gardens and fruit trees close to the homes. Given women's overall prime responsibility for the health and wellbeing of families in many areas, it could also be assumed that women would support ecological sanitation on the basis of health gains. Women's support would also be critical because of the need to pour ashes into the toilets after use, to dry out the faeces, increase the pH level and contribute to elimination of pathogens. Since women have the responsibility for tending the cooking fires it can be assumed that they would ensure a supply of ashes to be used in the latrines. Men, on the other hand, do the digging of the pits and construction of the latrine structure and it could be assumed that men would appreciate not having to construct a new latrine and pit each time the old pit is filled. The possibility of simply emptying the pit and continuing to use it must be positive from a labour expenditure point of view. Both women and men need access to cash incomes and could be assumed to welcome the potential economic benefits of ecological sanitation, if the opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurship in construction of latrines and starting small market gardens are be made available to both women and men.  

       There are also important gender perspectives on the urban agriculture linked to ecological sanitation. Women are responsible for food security in urban areas in many countries in the South. With urban agriculture based on ecological sanitation, families could save money by growing their own fruit and vegetables and/or selling some of the produce. Women often have a great need for increased sources of income but are constrained by their lesser access to formal education and training, relative to men, and are often confined to the informal sector. Urban agriculture, as a means of ensuring greater food security and potential supplementary income, is particularly attractive to women as it allows them to work close to their homes and facilitates the carrying out of other important roles, such as care of children, elderly and sick. The importance of ensuring that women as well as men are involved in planning and decision-making on urban agriculture initiatives, and have equitable access to training and extension services needs, however, to be emphasized. 

       Some concrete experiences on gender perspectives in relation to ecological sanitation are beginning to emerge from the project level in many parts of the world. Evidence from ecological sanitation systems in South India reveals that in areas with high water-tables where other forms of sanitation are not feasible, ecological sanitation provides huge benefits to women and girls.11 Without access to ecological sanitation the alternative for poor households is that all members of the households - women and men and girls and boys -  have to walk to open defecation sites (separate sites for women and men), sometimes up to a distance of 0.5km from the household. The health risks at the defecation sites are enormous because the human wastes are left lying around in the open. There are additional problems for women and girls as they are only able to use these sites to urinate and defecate at dawn and dusk. This leads to considerable discomfort and risk for urinary and other infections, particularly during menstruation.  Having ecological toilets near or in the households also reduces the risks involved for women in the walk to the defecation sites - including the risks of physical and psychological harassment by men. The ecological toilet in use in South India requires much less water than the more expensive alternative favoured by more well-off families, the water flush toilets, which reduces the work burden for women in drawing and carrying water for the toilets. Experiments are also being carried out to show that women can benefit from the reuse of the urine for productive enterprises.12  

       Experience from Zimbabwe indicates that women in rural areas prefer the ecological sanitation alternative - the arbor loos13 - to the conventional pit latrines as they can be built closer to the house. Women expressed appreciation of the gains in terms of privacy and safety, particularly for children, in night use. The use of the filled pits for planting fruit trees was also appreciated by women. Having the fruit trees close to the house enhances the potential for tending them properly, particularly in terms of being able to use the grey water from bathing and dish washing for watering. Men expressed appreciation of the arbor loos because the pits are smaller than conventional pit latrines and building them requires less labour. These findings are, however, not based on well-documented empirical data but on the observation of practitioners working in the communities.14 More well-substantiated data on the gender perspectives of ecological sanitation needs to be provided. 

Conclusions 

       Water and sanitation improvements should be developed within a framework that links poverty reduction, human rights and democratic development, gender equality and maintenance of the natural resource base. The framework must be people-centred and move beyond a focus on uses to a greater emphasis on the users of natural resources, recognizing the poor - women and men - as actors and change agents rather than victims (Hannan, 2000). The contributions, needs, priorities of all stakeholders, women as well as men, should be taken into account. Alternative sanitation should be an essential element of such a framework. Conventional linear approaches to sanitation result in the disposal of human wastes in environmentally unsound ways and the wasting of valuable and much needed nutrients. Two dangerous false assumptions underly the existing linear approaches. Firstly, that water and land resources are unlimited, and secondly, that there are no limits to the capacity of the natural environment to absorb human wastes (Esrey and Andersson, 2000b). A basic problem is the linear flows of resources and wastes which are not reconnected. Technological innovations based on frameworks where the loop is not closed are, in fact, part of the problem rather than the solution (ibid). 

       Agarwall and Narain (undated) highlighted the importance of institutions and governance issues for natural resource management, calling for frameworks which build on traditional knowledge, technology and regulatory mechanisms rather than on systems imposed from outside. The success of the local institutions in the examples presented in their research was clearly related to the creation of forums which were based on participatory rather than representative democracy, and allowed for all households members to discuss problems, identify solutions and establish sustainable management systems. The claims that ecological sanitation approaches will lead to decentralized management systems which foster social cohesion and empowerment will, however, only be realized if the questions of socio-economic equity are addressed. In particular, there is need to give greater attention to the gender perspectives in management and governance issues linked to ecological sanitation. Ecological sanitation approaches can only be empowering if both women and men have the possibility to influence the direction of, participate actively in the implementation of, and benefit from, these approaches 

       To bring about constructive change more efforts need to be made by politicians, planners and support agencies to better understand the gender implications of water supply and sanitation. Ways of reaching and involving both women and men have to be developed, particularly in terms of mobilizing women and men as agents of change and providing equitable access to economic benefits and opportunities, such the training, entreprenueral development support and credit made available in the context of water supply and sanitation improvements. Men need to be sensitized on the important contributions of women in the area of water and sanitation and encouraged to provide more support to their equitable involvement.  

       At the basis of a more gender-aware approach to water and sanitation improvements would be an understanding of the sex basic Rs: The roles / responsibilities - the actual and potential contributions of women and men in these areas and the constraints and opportunities related to these; the relations between women and men and how these are reflected at household and community levels and sustain differences and inequalities between women and men; the resources/rights involved and the hinders experienced by women respective men in terms of access to and control over these resources and the securing of rights; and the representation of women and men in decision-making processes, both formal and informal, and the need to promote more equitable involvement of women where inequalities are observed.  

       An important starting point must be the understanding that the basis for women's more equitable involvement in ecological sanitation initiatives should not be the perception of women as vulnerable, marginal and victims, but rather recognition of women as well as men as major stakeholders, actors and change-agents in both households and communities. 
 

References 

 

Footnotes