Water Walks : untold paths of violence

projectmaji
5 days ago
3 min read

Imagine if every trip to your kitchen for a glass of water came with the threat of violence. Or if buying a bottle from a vending machine meant risking your safety. For many women and girls around the world, this is not hypothetical—it is reality. Securing access to water, a basic necessity for life, often means facing danger on long, perilous journeys.

The problem

Project Maji has never shied away from the gender dimensions of access to water. We have explored how installing easy access to clean water alleviates the strenuous burden of water collection, thereby enabling girls to attend school and women to pursue economic opportunities. Having a sustainable source of water located near you saves lives and saves time, especially when it comes to women who largely bear the responsibility of fetching water in rural communities. But water walks are not solely time-consuming, tedious, and physically challenging. They can be dangerous.

Arduous terrain, unforgiving weather, and wildlife form part of the matrix of perils awaiting those who venture to find water. With water sources often located far away from rural communities, women are at an increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Often alone or in small groups, rarely with the means to defend themselves, and on isolated and deserted roads, women and girls are left vulnerable to attacks and sexual assaults.

The chances of this form of violence increase when women travel at night, as is often done to decrease heat exposure, and when they must travel multiple times a day to fetch the amount of water they require. Yet, despite the dangers, women and girls are left with no choice but to continue their collection journeys, as there is no alternative to water. At great personal cost, women and girls collectively spend 250 million hours per day (three times more than their male counterparts) retrieving water for themselves and their households.

The lack of statistics on this specific occurrence of SGBV, owing to the unfounded culture of shame around this topic, render it difficult to know the full extent of this issue. Still, there are studies that reflect his danger, including in Project Maji’s primary country of operation, Ghana. A 2015 paper identified acute risks of sexual violence among pre-pubescent girls. Perpetrators increase their attacks during the rainy season, as the paths become more treacherous, leading to even less visibility of the female water collectors. In addition to the physical and mental trauma of sexual assault, these attacks also expose women to enduring health risks like HIV, thereby compromising their lives and health even further.

The domestic sphere

Unfortunately, the risk to women’s safety, bodies, and health does not end when they return home from a water walk. Many women report spousal violence, precipitated by delays in water-related tasks like cooking, cleaning, and bathing, due to the water scarcity and collection burden. Women and girls are blamed for a perceived inability to perform these domestic chores, in accordance with someone else's timeline.

When we apply a gendered lens to the issue of water scarcity, we are able to see how these problems reinforce one another. Because of the far way locations of water sources, girls sacrifice their education to carry out the chore of collection. A lack of education lowers their opportunities to seek employment, leading many (often when they are still children) to marry and become dependent on male community members, who are traditionally seen as providers. Relegated to second-class positions in society, women and girls are treated poorly for failing to meet expectations when it comes to work allocated to members of their sex, such as water collection, in turn triggering domestic violence. Additionally, a lack of girls and women in educational and vocational settings and a confinement of them to a subservient position only serves to dehumanise them, driving gender-based violence.

The solution?

Project Maji is but one piece in addressing some of these systemic issues. Our water kiosks are typically installed in the centres of these rural communities, to allow for easy and convenient access of the local population. In doing so, we largely do away with the long, menacing water walks. Moreover, by locating our water access points in populated areas, we reduce the risk of violence as our community members are no longer isolated when fetching water. As an important note, the sites of our access points are always agreed with the communities before they are built. We are thrilled that we can allow the women and girls of the localities we serve to feel safer while they collect water. Additionally, we know that we are facilitating girls to pursue and focus on their studies and foster the possibility of women in the work force by limiting the time spent on this task.