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ecology
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Women
and Water
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An
introduction to the international water problem
Photo:
http://www.netzwerk-afrika-deutschland.de/themen/wasser/fr-wasser11-frauen.htm
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1.4
billion people
have no access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion are without
access to adequate sanitation services. The consequences are devastating:
30,000 persons are dying every day from diseases caused by absence
of safe drinking water and lack of sanitation...
It has been predicted that by the year 2032, 60% of the world
population will live in regions characterized by water scarcity.
There
will be proliferation and hardening of water conflicts within and
across countries. Water is now being increasingly referred to as
the 'blue gold' in analogy with crude oil that is termed as 'black
gold' therefore people are more and more convinced that the 21st
century will be the century of 'water wars'...
(from brochure:
"People's March For Water"
People's World Water Forum)
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Declaration of the Peoples World Water Movement: New Delhi,
India, 14 January 2004
"We stand in clear
opposition to the oligarchy of the World Water Council and commit to democratic
control; peoples based control of the world's water resources. We commit
to working on the ground with women and men in communities, recognizing
the special impacts of the world's water crisis on women..."
Read
full declaration
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Articles:
At a Glance - Women
and Water In developing societies, women are most often responsible for
domestic and community water management.
Download
as pdf report from UNIFEM here
Water,
Women, & War Laura Santina, Z
Magazine, November 2004
"Water was the biggest buzz at the 2004 Women’s International League of
Peace and Freedom Congress held in August in the town of Kungälv, Sweden. During
the week-long conference … over 300 women from 31 countries discussed the condition,
distribution, and availability of water in their own countries."
Damn
the Dams: An Interview with Medha Patkar
By Robert Jensen, AlterNet
February 25, 2004
Medha Patkar: ..."Development
issues cannot be contained within national boundaries. In India, even though
there is hardly any land to relocate people onto, the projects are on the fast
track, and those decisions are being made not just in Delhi and Bombay but also
in Washington and Geneva. When there are more and more such projects going forward,
the people's sovereignty over natural resources and human rights are bypassed.
So, it's essential that we reach the global centers of power to fight not just
centralized planning, but privatization-based planning. We have had to fight
that at the local and national level. We have to ally with friends across the
world to know the companies and challenge the companies, we have to have joint
plans and action. The same is true of the struggles of people in Mexico, the
Philippines, Pakistan, South Africa, or within the United States and European
countries..."
Resources on Women and Water
Diverting
the Flow
"Every day, many
women and girls walk or travel long distances to bring water to their families,
often at the expense of education, income generating activities, cultural
and political involvement, and rest and recreation. Despite this, women’s
central role in water resources management is often ignored.
Privatization is one aspect of the world’s water crisis that is having a
deeply negative impact on the livelihoods of women."
Download
this new 12 page booklet "Diverting the Flow" by Women's
Environment & Development Organization and Public
Citizen (in PDF Format or as a word document). It has excellent quotes
and sources for more information, as well as case studies of water privatization.
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The
Gender and Water Alliance
The Gender and Water Alliance is a network of 133 organisations and individuals
from around the world with an independent steering committee. It is an
Associated Programme of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) funded by the
governments of the Netherlands and United Kingdom. Beacuse of the pooled
experience and skills contained in this network, the GWA offers a mix
of information and knowledge sharing activities such as electronic conferencing,
a web site, advocacy leaflets and video, annual reports, capacity building
and pilot programmes.
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In South Africa, the Poor Could Win the Water Battle
By Fabienne Pompey
Le Monde FR Tuesday 24 February 2004
"South African anti-privatization
movements are poised to win the water battle. Ever since the government adopted
the World Bank-imposed "total cost recovery" principle, the cost of water has
become inaccessible for the poorest sectors of the population. Private companies,
which had rushed into these new markets, begin to become disillusioned..."
Read
article here
Women and Water Privatization
November 2003 By Ana Elena Obando, WHRnet
"Water is a fundamental and inalienable human right and a common good that
every person and institution of this planet should protect. This resource is,
like air, a heritage of humanity and must be declared that way. Water is not
merchandize and no person or institution should be allowed to get rich from
the sale of it. It should not be privatized, marketed, exported or transferred
to a few multinational companies, which today already control 90 percent of
privatized water utilities. For the GATT, NAFTA and FTAA, water is a commodity,
an investment, a simple service for commercial use and profit.
Women are the most affected by this crisis. More than half of the 1.2 billion
people who do not have access to water are women and girls..." Read
study here
Women
and Water Resources United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
site for information on women and water supply and use, sanitation, and further
links to agricultural issues concerning rural women.
"Women play an
important role in water management. They are most often the collectors, users
and managers of water in the household as well as farmers of irrigated and rainfed
crops. Because of these roles, women have considerable knowledge about water
resources, including quality and reliability, restrictions and acceptable storage
methods, and are key to the success of water resources development and irrigation
policies and programmes."
Bororo
woman watering in the Niger
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Women
and Water: Resources Supply and Use: In 1996 UNESCO launched a
Special Project entitled "Women and Water: Resources Supply and Use" ...
(aimed) at improving the quality of life of women in rural and urban areas
in Sub-Saharan African countries, by facilitating their access to water
resources and by improving water resources management.
"Water
for All News" December 2003
Focus -- Women and Water from the Asian Development Bank.
Women
and Water Peacework Magazine, March 1999
By Susan Murcott, engineering consultant from Boston, Massachusetts USA
..."women
are often not empowered to make important decisions about water. As I
well know from my own engineering education and practice, women are a
minority in the water engineering and management professions; decisions
about water are often made by men."
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Links
for more information on water:
RiverNet
" the server for living rivers"
International Rivers Network
Clean Water Action
is a national citizens' organization working for clean, safe and affordable
water, prevention of health-threatening pollution, creation of environmentally-safe
jobs and businesses, and empowerment of people to make democracy work.
Regional USA water groups:
Sweetwater
Alliance: Michigan's citizens take action to protect their water.
Hudson
River Sloop Clearwater: Clearwater conducts environmental education, advocacy
programs and celebrations to protect the Hudson River, its tributaries and related
bodies of water. ...
On water privatization
Promoting
Privatization February 3, 2003 — The explosive growth of three private
water utility companies in the last 10 years raises fears that mankind may be
losing control of its most vital resource to a handful of monopolistic corporations.
In Europe and North America, analysts predict that within the next 15 years
these companies will control 65 percent to 75 percent of what are now public
waterworks. The companies have worked closely with the World Bank and other
international financial institutions to gain a foothold on every continent.
They aggressively lobby for legislation and trade laws to force cities to privatize
their water and set the agenda for debate on solutions to the world's increasing
water scarcity. The companies argue they are more efficient and cheaper than
public utilities. Critics say they are predatory capitalists that ultimately
plan to control the world's water resources and drive up prices even as the
gap between rich and poor widens. The fear is that accountability will vanish,
and the world will lose control of its source of life. read
report
What has been the role
of the World Bank?
WASHINGTON, February 3, 2003 — Despite World Bank contentions that it does not
force privatization on the poor, research by ICIJ and the bank itself showed
that privatization is playing an ever-increasing role in bank lending policies.
Printer-Friendly VersionPrinter-Friendly Version Email This PageEmail This Page
Send Us Your CommentsSend Us Your Comments Using data available from the World
Bank Web site, ICIJ analyzed 276 loans labeled "water supply" awarded by the
bank between 1990 and November 2002. In about one third of the projects, the
World Bank required the country to privatize its water operations in some form
before it received funds.
read
report
