Gender and class: Intersectionality in water access and management

From all the previous posts, it is clear that gender impacts access to water and management of water. However, it is not enough to look at gender independently as the inequality occurs on a multidimensional basis – class, race, gender and so on. Therefore, this post will look at how both gender and poverty can impact water inequality. This will be illustrated by discussing the disadvantages faced by poor women; the divide between the urban rich and urban poor; and finally the exclusion of poor men from water management.

What is intersectionality?

Intersectionality is a term coined by the feminist scholar, Kimberlé Crenshaw (Videl, 2014). The approach suggests that gender, race and class are all interconnected and an intersectional approach is needed to understand the marginalisation faced by a disadvantaged group (Jones et al, 2013).

Poor women and sanitation

In low income households, it is usually women who have to suffer the most from the lack of access to adequate water and sanitation. Lack of access to adequate sanitation affects women especially when they are menstruating. They need clean toilets (within close proximity of their homes) and a running supply of water to maintain a good level of privacy and hygiene. The lack of disposal and toilet facilities often discourages girls from attending school (Water Aid, no date). A UNICEF (2003) funded toilet construction project in Mozambique helped create an environment where the girls felt comfortable going to school during their menstruation, with the attendance rising by 11%. Furthermore, it the usually the women who have to fetch the water for the whole family and endure the long queues and heavy loads. Despite the disproportionate burden women from low income backgrounds face, they are still neglected when it comes to decision making and management of water and sanitation services (Mahon and Fernandes, 2010).

Poor urban women

Furthermore, the class inequality is especially evident in urban areas. Africa is one of the fastest urbanising areas in the world, and the African urban population set to grow from 36% to 60% by 2050 (African Development Bank, 2012). As a result, there is increasing proportion of urban poor living in slum settlements, such as Langas in Eldoret, Kenya. The illegal status and lack of organised infrastructure means that these areas suffer from inadequate water supply (Isunji et al, 2011). The study by Insunji et al(2011) found that 89% of people living in Langas slums relied on shallow, unprotected and unlocked wells for water, many of them were not able to use the tap water provided by the local municipal because it was too expensive and sometimes unreliable. This problem is not inclusive to Langas alone. Thomspon et al’s (2000) research of 9 East African-Urban areas with piped facilities found that in poor urban areas such as Karuri, Kenya, residents received only 5-hour service per day, while more affluent areas such as Nairobi in Kenya received a 24-hour service. This highlights the inequality present between poor and rich inhabitants within the same region.

Poor men

There are a disproportionate number of male water managers, compared to women. However, it is important to note that the men usually come from an educated, middle class backgrounds. The planners, engineers and government officials tend to be from these backgrounds. This is perfectly demonstrated by the Ministers of irrigation and water resources in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, Paul Mayom Akec in South Sudan and Joel Gabuza in Zimbabwe, all of whom are middle class and university educated. While it is easy to assume most of the decisions regarding resource management is made by men, often the voices of poor, unemployed men are often missing (May, 1997). These men are often negatively stereotyped as lazy and deviants. Therefore, it is also important to the understand the inequalities present between men(May,1997)

When examining the inequalities in water access and management, it is no longer enough to consider gender by diving the population into males and females. Their experiences will differ according to their economic background, age, gender and so on. For example, the issues a girl attending public school with limited sanitation facilities will vary drastically from a girl attending school in a private school in the city. Furthermore, often when discussing gender inequality, it often easy to talk about it as a women’s issue but it is also equally important to include marginalised men who are left out from development too.