by Sadaf Gondal
Water — the most essential requirement of life—is such a blessing, which people around the world are struggling to access through conservation and efficient management systems to deal with its scarcity. Reliable estimations have spotted the number of more than 1.8 billion people round the globe without having reach to safe water, while those lacking access to adequate sanitation even stood up to 2.4 billion. It makes 32 percent of this world’s population, where also 60 percent people live in water stress areas.
Although water availability is often thought of in a rural context, but urbanization continues to raise the population of the world’s cities—now from 3.5 billion to an estimated five (5) billion by 2030 — and is making urban water supply increasingly acute. Rising demand in highly concentrated areas is resulting in less available water per urban household, with profound implications for the health and productivity of dwellers.
This global crisis has startled the international community that in fact is taking it greater than the threat of terrorism. So realizing the monstrous effects of water scarcity, these nations of the world are framing and implementing result oriented policies to ensure that none of them is left behind in the process of development. However, when see all this in context our beloved land – Pakistan – we find it as the worst nightmare. We just catch it that despite an abundance of water in Pakistan a few decades ago, lagging policies have raised the prospect of its scarcity that has started threatening the economy and nation of the country.
Various reliable reports of the International organizations such as of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and of the water bodies and national media have clearly indicated that Pakistan ranks number 9 in the list of top 10 countries with lowest access to clean water. Here about 21 million out of the total population do not have access to clean water. Here water scarcity is not the only issue, as safe drinking water is also a dream in many areas. These reports reveal that about 53,000 Pakistani children die of many lethal diseases such as diarrhea after drinking contaminated water each year. Besides, the country has lost water worth 90 billion US dollars since 2010 due to floods, which could be voided.
This essential commodity of life is directly linked with the agriculture sector, as it contributes more than 21 percent to total GDP of Pakistan. This sector also provides 47 percent employment to a total population of Pakistan, besides the majority of our export goods rely on it as 70 percent of these goods are agriculture products. Thus the water scarcity results in severe economic distress to country’s economy. On the other hand water having economic values of US Dollars 70 billion gets wasted into the sea every year. These are the alarming factors that require our immediate attention both at national and individual levels.
Here, poor management of water and absence national water policies since the establishment of the country has led to water crisis even in big cities like Karachi where roughly 20 million residents regularly face water shortages. Baluchistan, the largest province of the country lies in a zone that sees low rainfall it mostly faces drought and famine. Its provincial capital faces shortage of 20 million gallons of water daily. Researchers have predicted that Pakistan is on its way to becoming the most water-stressed country in the region by the year 2040. Adding to the miseries, the impact of climate change would also be more catastrophic if timely measures are not taken, as it can also result severe drought in near future.
However in this whole snario, another most crucial factor that will be equally detrimental to ignore is the way how it affects the lives of women in Pakistan that make about 51 percent of the total population. Women spend more time for fetching water and for them the water crisis is personal. They are responsible for finding a resource their families need to survive – for drinking, cooking, sanitation and hygiene. They may stand in line and wait for water, they may walk long distances to collect water, or they may pay exorbitant amounts of money to secure water. In their efforts to get water for their families, they often face an impossible choice – certain death without water or possible death due to illness. Access to safe water is critical to the health of women and their babies during pregnancy and after. Walking to collect water and carrying heavy vessels of water can be dangerous for a pregnant woman. Further, the consumption of unsafe water can be harmful to the health of both mother and her baby. From maintaining a healthy pregnancy to nourishing a newborn child, women need safe water at home.
However, to tackle this water crises greater investment in Pakistan’s water sector represents the best option for sustainable social and economic development and to ensure that no one is left behind in the process of development. Pakistan needs sound water policies and framework for balanced socio-economic development, management, and conservation of the country’s water resources in an environment challenged by climate change. And for this purpose equally important is the inclusion of women in all efforts as they are the major stakeholders. We also see that wherever the inclusion of women in this regard was ensured, the results were successful and sustainable. There are various examples how positively women positively contributed in the water crises of African countries. In Republic of Malawi, water committees composed mainly of women monitor the condition of the water pipes that lie along the footpaths they use several times a day, reporting water leakages and the need for repairs.
Women in the Magelang district of Java, Indonesia, helped their community rethink long-held beliefs that women lack technical skills when they offered technical solutions to design problems in the existing water system. Their solutions became the basis for a complete modification to the water system, and women are now active participants in the management of the community’s water systems. Finally, they play an important role in design and maintenance that helps promote water stewardship and the use of water in socially inclusive, environmentally sustainable, and economically beneficial ways. Involving women can increase the effectiveness of water projects six- or seven-fold. For example, in the province of Baluchistan, researchers—who were initially deterred from consulting with women for a year—were eventually able to collaborate with an all-female team that proposed repurposing a new water tank on unused land to provide water for nonfunctioning public standpipes. This plan was not only more cost-effective than the original plan developed by an all-male group—it led to better water management and quality-of-life. Countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and Peru have adopted ambitious national policies aimed at increasing the number of women working in the sector, increasing women’s participation, and changing the way water resources are managed. As importantly, these countries have adopted both formal and informal methods for ensuring that these policies do more than just sit on the shelf, with designated gender focal points tucked into HR departments with no budget or buy-in.19 Kenya’s national gender policy, of which water policy is a subset, has been cascaded to all public sector institutions at every level of government with a requirement to report on compliance and impact to the country’s National Gender Commission on a quarterly basis. Uganda’s minister of state for water, Maria Mutagamba, was instrumental in leading the formation and implementation of her country’s water sector strategies.
Similarly in Pakistan various examples show that women’s participation in rural water sector programs significantly improved the community’s access to clean drinking water. So in this way the greater representation of women in policy and regulatory roles helps generate greater awareness of the concerns and experiences of women constituents among decision makers, which could influence how the sector is governed and by whom and how water resources are accessed and controlled. Similarly many other countries have national policies that mandate equal gender representation in the governance of the water sector and gender equity in the access as well as control of the water resources.
Moreover for more than two decades, the role of women within the water sector has been examined in studies that have found that more substantial improvements in the governance, transparency, and sustainability of water supplies are achieved when men and women are involved in equal measure than when women are involved only marginally or not at all. A World Bank evaluation of 122 projects found that water projects that included women were six to seven times more effective than those that did not. It is rightly in this context that Aurat Foundation thought of establishing a network “Women and Women” because women always served as active leaders, organizers, and change managers in their homes and communities.
This network is compassionate about improving water services in Pakistan and believes that societal change can be accelerated through social entrepreneurship. It will help mainstreaming gender through community development activities in addressing water issues. It also helps uniting women of low and middle income families and turns them as active leaders, partners, experts and agents of change in water. This is an entry point to women’s empowerment and to improve equitable access to water for all and for all uses. It is meant to enhance the status of women thus promoting and becoming partners in water development.
It also has the following aims and objectives:
- Creating an enabling environment help women develop working relationship with line departments, policy makers, development partners and other stakeholders in the area of water management and conservation
- Organize events and develop materials to provide a platform to share experiences with peer-to-peer benchmarking practices, knowledge transfer, and feeding into subsequent policy dialogues. At these events, rural women will be encouraged to share experiences to facilitate their transformation into entrepreneurs
- Create awareness concerning access to clean drinking water which is a universal human right that also determines everything from the dynamics of sociocultural relations to economic opportunities, education, health, and environmental protection
- Capacity-building and training of women and relevant stakeholders in water sector