Gender and the sanitation gap

Experience in the Decade Service rural sanitation projects is that women’s cultural and traditional beliefs should be taken into account in training programmes. Care should be taken not to overburden already burdened rural women; men should be motivated to share and respect the views of women who should be visible in all aspects, from project planning to monitoring and evaluation and not only as ‘carers’ providing tea and meals or relegated to menial tasks of fetching and carrying.