Environmental Issues

A very fundamental reality is that life is totally dependent on water. However, the world is currently faced with a severe water crisis. Experts have warned that over twenty five percent of the population of the world does not have access to clean water for survival. It is also a fact that millions of people succumb to water borne diseases annually. The most appalling fact in all this is that most of this happens in the developing countries. Degradation of water quality is a direct consequence of human activities. Generally speaking, the manner in which land is used as well as economic development has been blamed for the current water crisis. Considering the effects of poor water resource management, one thing that comes out very clearly is the fact that women are the worst hit by the crisis in these developing countries. It is a fact that women in most developing countries take on the role of running the homes per se. The absence of water therefore, is likely to be felt more by women than men. This study seeks to explore the issue of water management, and show how this affects women. It further seeks to propose possible measures that can address the situation.

Overview and Background Information
As earlier indicated, the entire world is currently faced with a crisis that has never been so pronounced in its entire history, namely, that of water shortage. While it is a fact that the entire world is in crisis, the developing nations are faced with an even greater challenge. As such therefore, there are many faces to this challenge. In about every part of Africa and Asia for instance, the duty of providing water is entirely a womans job. It is not uncommon to find young girls walking three to five miles in the morning in search of water, before going to school. The dry parts of Africa are perhaps among the most severely affected. In the slums, water is a luxurious commodity. It is very common that people will be found using water from contaminated rivers (Science for the Twenty-First Century, 1998).

The United Nations estimates that over four thousand five hundred children die every day as a result of unclean water and sanitation. The age brackets offered for these demographics is five years and below. One can only imagine what this does to the poor mothers who not only have to brave the challenge of inadequate, and unhygienic water, but also the loss of their babies.

It is further estimated that over half of the populace in the developing countries lack proper sanitation. In cities across Africa for instance, over sixty percent of persons live in shanties and slums, majority of who are women and children. It seems that where poor people gather, there must be inadequacies of all sorts (International Institute for Environment and Development, 2003).

Water and Poverty
A very disturbing fact is that poor people across the developing countries have to struggle with either too little, or too much water (through floods). In some cases, they also have to deal with cases of too polluted water. Women are in all instances vulnerable to these misfortunes, either due to their biological, social, or economic status in society. For instance, when there is a flood and everything is swept away, children still know that their mothers are the providers of food, and whenever they cry it is to their mothers.

Management of this all important resource seems to be a nightmare for most governments in the developing world. This has been attributed either to lack of capacity for assessment of the exact situation, or sheer neglect of the plight of the poor. This is seen in the fact that whenever governments in the developing world come up with Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, only a few put water as one of the issues needing attention.

As aforementioned, women and young girls have to walk several kilometers in search of water. It has been documented that in some parts of Eastern and North Eastern provinces in Kenya, women leave early in the morning in search of the commodity and come back later in the evening. In this case, they have to carry with them about twenty kilograms of water for several hours before they bring it to use (Southern African Regional Poverty Network, 2008). Obviously, this has its own implication in as far as the education of women is concerned. According to Liz Whitelegg, girls were in the past made to understand that they served as social assets. That is perhaps the main reason why society naturally expected that women take on the role of provision of water for the society. This is also perhaps the reason why men in developing countries, who in most cases dominate the management portfolios, never saw it necessary to plan effective water supply systems

The Importance of Gender Perspectives in Water Resource Management
Recent developments show that women have featured in key international policies with regard to the improvement and management of water in the context of poverty alleviation. In the year 2000, the Second World Water Forum recognized that apart from being prime domestic water users, water was central to womens key role of food production. It was further recognized that children and women were more vulnerable to disasters related to water. It was on the basis of these findings that the forum concluded that women ought to be fully involved in management of water resource if governance is to be improved. It is women who bear the greatest burden whenever issues of poor water management crop up. The effect of not involving women in the management of water resources has been felt in the past. In Nepal for instance, a water project was set up along roadsides in order to cater for bathing and washing needs of the community. However, women complained that they had been left out of the project and were suffering as a result. The reason for this was that they were naturally not free to bathe. They also tended to shy away from washing clothes used during their menstruation for fear of being seen by their male counterparts. This meant that more time was spent as women had to make several trips to and from the water source in order to do these things in privacy (Shibesh and Fawcett, 1999).

In many developing countries, water policies suffer a lack of gender mainstreaming. In other words, there is no proper assessment of the implications of planned policy development on both women and men. This means that women and men do not enjoy equality in this area. This notwithstanding, gender mainstreaming remains a justified reality mainly from the aspect of effectiveness and efficiency. There is no doubt that improved water supply would translate into real and practical benefits for women. They would enjoy better health have more time for productive activities, as well as easing their duties as managers of household water.

A study conducted in Zimbabwe revealed that election into water management committees was based largely on the level of respect, earned through either influence or position) and possession of some resources (Cleaver, 1998). It is evident that women, who tend to be poorer in most parts of the developing world, lack these essentials for being elected into these committees. As aforementioned, women have held traditional roles as household managers of water. Water sector is therefore, properly speaking, a womens sector.

Another reason why accessibility of this commodity for women is difficult is the fact of land rights. This is especially with regard to water for irrigation. Traditionally, women have no rights to own land, and even with the current legal changes, there still remain social hurdles in this area. Women and children comprise the largest percentage of workers in irrigation farms, yet these farms are decided upon by men. This goes not only with regard to the usage, but also with regard to the cash generated.

Water Shortage and Poor Performance of Girls in Science Education
As earlier indicated, women and girls assume the role of searching for water. Liz Whitelegg says women have over the years been considered as social assets, and the area of water management is one that has greatly influenced this view. How then has this issue affected the performance of girls in science education Overall, the performance of girls has always been poorer compared to that of boys in science education. She argues that the role of women in the development of science and technology has historically been hidden, mainly because historians were predominantly men (Lederman and Bartsch, 2001).The fact that science education requires a lot of concentration is a self explanatory reality. It is a challenging thing however, for young girls who are ridden with family responsibilities to understand science in the say way as boys do. The example offered previously where girls have to walk several miles in search of water witnesses to the fact that it is not easy for girls to excel.

According to Liz, men who wrote history of technology should be viewed with a lot of skepticism. Instead, it is important to emphasize, in education, the activities that have been improved through the ideas of women (Lederman and Bartsch, 2001). These include, fetching water, healing, preparing food, and so on. She finds fault with the male ascribed significance in productive practices. Liz argues that the lack of social and economic power for women holds them down to the role that they traditionally assumed, that is, production of for immediate consumption. A long the same line, women have traditionally been working for men, either as the household head, or the feudal lord, or as the slave owner. It is no doubt then, that the provision of water as a central element of production heavily contributed to the degradation of women (Lederman and Bartsch, 2001).

Conclusion
Having established that there is a crisis in the area of water and its management as a key survival resource, it is important that the issue be sufficiently addressed. The governments in developing countries ought to employ an inclusive strategy in the management of various water projects. Cases have been cited where male dominated projects ended up being unhelpful for women. Traditionally, women have always taken on the role of managers in as far as management of household water is concerned. They see to the use of the entire household water. This is the reason why governments cannot afford to neglect their input.

It is also important that various governments address this issue in order to improve the performance of girls in science education. As aforementioned, it is unreasonable to expect that women perform as better as their male counterparts, when they are left at home taking care of family needs, only to come and compete at the same level in school examination.

Regulatory reforms are necessary where there is stronger impact of human activity. At the same time, institutional reforms need to be taken into consideration in order to tackle the huge stress on water resources.