Impacts of domestic water supply on gender and income: results from a participatory study in a drought-prone region in Gujarat, India

Abstract

In tbis paper tbe value of an improved domestic water supply was investigated for economic development and gender relations in rural households in a drought-prone area. A comparative study executed witb participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods with groups of women from 11 micro-enterprises in ten villages and five control villages showed that,when an improved domestic water supply does not function, the entrepreneurs groups bave a statistically higber loss of the economic use of water and time tban the control groups. The extra income tbat women gain wben tbe supply works and is used economically belps poor families to bridge tbe dry season. It could further be quantitatively proven that male-female gender relations were significantly better in the entrepreneurs group. Tbis was not so for mother-daughter relationsbips, wbicb gave new insights into the need to address gender equality i.ssues witb the women themselves and witb SEW A, the supporting agency. These findings support ibe view that rural poverty and tbe status of women would receive a significant boost if policy makers focused on providing employment opportun i tie.s for women along witb improved water supplies.

Water, Sanitation, and Women’s Empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis

“…181 (70%) articles engaged at least two of the empowerment domains; 113 (44%) engaged all three (Supplemental Figure 1). (n = 53) Abu 2019; 62 Aguilar 2005; 49 Akolgo 2020; 63 Aladuwaka 2010; 42 Assaad 1994; 64 Bastidas 2005; 65 Bastola 2015; 66 Bhandari 2009; 67 Bisung 2014; 68 Boateng 2013a; 69 Boateng 2013b; 70 Cairns 2017; 58 Carmi 2019; 71 Chipeta 2009; 72 Clement 2018; 43 Coulter 2018; 73 Crow 2012; 74 Das 2014; 75 Devasia 1998a; 76 79 Gate 2001; 80 Ge 2011; 81 Grant 2019; 29 Harris 2017; 82 James 2002; 53 Leahy 2017; 44 Lebel 2015; 83 Leder 2017; 45 Mandara 2013; 84 Mandara 2017; 85 Mason 2012; 86 Mehta 2015; 87 Naiga 2017; 88 O'Reilly 2006; 55 Padmaja 2020; 89 Prokopy 2004; 90 Sijbesma 2009; 91 Singh 2006b; 92 Singh 2018; 93 Stevenson 2012; 94 Sultana 2009a; 95 Sultana 2009b; 96 Thai 2019; 97 Torri 2010; 61 Tortajada 2003;…”

“…Women's income-earning has enhanced their ability to make household water and sanitation decisions, particularly pertaining to small purchases or pay-per-use sanitation facilities. 29,45,91,110,133 When large expenditures are involved, such as for latrine construction, women have been excluded from decision-making, 48,55,86,97,105,109,110,117,121,128 potentially resulting in latrines that fail to accomodate needs and thus remain unused. 48,55,110 In Kenya, women reported limited input over home rental decisions, including which WASH services should be available.…”

The Benefits of Improved Water Supply: Lessoned Learnedfrom Sri Lanka

“…Kahinda et al (2007) [19] pointed out that water plays an important role in economic growth by increasing the assurance of supply of water, enhancing water quality and human health conditions. Research conducted by Sijbesma et al (2009) [15] emphasized that potential economic benefit of improved water supply. Further the researches have explained that especially women get access to improved water supply, the decrease in water collection time and their energy could be transformed into economic activities.…”

HIV and H2O: Tracing the Connections Between Gender, Water and HIV

“…In addition, whereas women are often depicted in policy and programs as less involved in the commercial use of water, to the contrary, studies demonstrate that women play multiple roles in water, and are frequently the users, managers and guardians of household water as well as key players in income-generating activities [25, 28]. Women’s access to water for productive activities is limited by water scarcity, access to resources like land, credit, training, and transportation, and their primary social obligations to care for their home and family [25, 29]. …”

“…Women’s water-related labor also has opportunity costs as it competes with other domestic and economic work, reduces the time that women have available for other activities, makes it difficult for girls to continue their schooling [30], and prevents women from caring for themselves or family and from engaging in remunerative activities [27, 29]. Water work can also present the risk of rape or violence if they are required to go to a remote place to fetch water [27].…”