Part 1: The Impact WaSH (and lack thereof) Has Had on Women

My next entry will be on the topic that interests me most within the theme of water and gender in Africa – WaSH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and the impact this has had on MHM (Menstrual Health Management) and period poverty. I will be contextualising this problem by looking at the causes of poor WaSH facilities and the implications this has had. in the context of MHM As WaSH is an extensive topic, this will act as a 2-part series. 

Poor access to WaSH facilities disproportionally affects women in many countries in Africa which consequently causes problems with MHM. As a result, period poverty has become a prevalent issue as women are unable to access sanitation facilities that allow them to manage their periods effectively. A lack of WaSH facilities is more so a problem in informal settlements and is often routed in lack of regulations and funds to be able to provide appropriate sanitation infrastructures e.g a toilet, clean water and sanitary towels. Subsequently, women are forced to bear already difficult menstrual cycles with the facilities they have at hand which oftentimes, are not sanitary. We can see this is the case when considering a study conducted across many African countries with varying levels of development like Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda. 

In the case of these countries, many different factors inhibit the availability of WaSH services to support MHM, with the prevalent reason being economic status in informal localities. Having a safe and lockable toilet with running clean water is more sparsely found in these areas which makes it a lot harder to undergo effective MHM. A lack of clean water to clean themselves in a space where they do not feel safe is also a considerable problem. This continues to remain a problem in these places due to the heavy taboo surrounding MHM. The heavy stigma is caused by the inaccurate idea that women are unclean during their menstrual cycle. And so, men, who typically have the power to put in place policies and provisions, very rarely consider the need for women to have access to these places. For a woman to bring this idea to the fore policy making is also difficult as MHM is often a private matter in these societies and there is no way of ensuring the anonymity of women. 

Additionally, the use of disposable sanitary towels is confined to women who can afford this ‘luxury’. I say ‘luxury’ in quotation marks as this is not a luxury. It should be a women’s right to have access to disposable sanitary towels. Alas, I digress. For women who do not have access to these disposable sanitary towels, they are forced to use cloths and rags. While these can do the job, they are uncomfortable and access to clean water to maintain the cleanliness of these cloths and rags is not always an option. All of these factors combined contribute to the humility girls who do not have proper access to adequate WaSH facilities have to face. 

"Water is life, but sanitation is dignity"

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What can be done to tackle this? 

Eliminating taboos around menstruation by implementing appropriate information into the education curriculum will reduce any misconceptions and inform all. This is important as this is a male problem too - instead of leaving men out of the conversation and exacerbating any ignorance around MHM, informing men would allow them to act as a useful ally. This will be especially useful as they have bargaining power in delegating policies that could be used to improve the WaSH facilities. This in turn will benefit the development of these communities and coincides with the SDGs as seen in the figure below. Interestingly, SDGs do not explicitly consider MHM and thus relies on other targets to facilitate this - a more direct approach by the SDGs would have considerable impact. Although, as mentioned in the last entry, this can only go so far if there is enough funding to put these into place. This means that different countries who can afford to invest in this will be able to reap the benefits, while those who cannot will remain stationary. 

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Until all countries can implement appropriate WaSH facilities (especially in the informal urban areas that are more so affected by this) by using the methods mentioned above, problems like poor MHM will continue to arise and persist. Other problems include low educational attainment and gender-based violence which will be explored further in the second section of this 2-part series.