Development in Africa: Water and Gender

Wow! I can’t believe it's over!  Over the course of this blog, I have learnt so much about this interesting topic, and hope that you have learnt something too. Along this journey, I have aimed to shed light on this complex matter by initially uncovering the link between water and gender, then moving on to how women are disproportionally affected by a lack of water and sanitation services. I then finally uncovered different initiatives that have been put into place to alleviate this inequality. A reoccurring theme that has persisted throughout all of my blog posts is that while women are undergoing this inequality, for development to occur, efforts should be made by different levels of institutions to:  1. Distribute already available water resources equally and equitably (by..)  2. Put in place education initiatives to reduce stigma and cultural norms that exacerbate inequalities (to then be able to...)  3. Engage women as agents of change e.g. decision-making  There is sti

In the last entry, I uncovered the effectiveness of Coca-Cola's water initiative on providing wash services to people and alleviating inequalities between men and women. As previously mentioned, they appeared to have success when incorporating women in water management and decision making – thus begging the question, is female participation the way forward? Spoiler alert: Yes. Incorporating women in the decision-making process is logical and makes sense. As we know from one of my earlier entries, women already collect water and use it for household uses like cooking and cleaning and are the decision-makers in the household – so why would this not extend outwards into local and national policy? Through making, women agents of change in water management and decision making can then allow them to lead fulfilled lives in which they are able to engage in economic, social and political activities, thus enabling the development of the communities they are in. Additionally, water projects