Women, water and sanitation - challenges and prospects

The saying that water issues are women issues has been bandied about in Developing Countries since the 1980s. A lot of meetings have been held with the view to ascertaining how best to involve women in water and sanitation projects. The factors inhibiting and militating against active and effective involvement of women are however multi-faceted and complex. This paper attempts to highlight some of the key challenges women have to contend with in the water and sanitation sector. These include psychological, socio-cultural and economic factors. Suggestions are made on how to involve women in water and sanitation projects right from the design phase, through promotion, mobilization, planning, construction phase up to the follow-up or monitoring and evaluation stage, given the crucial role of women in the sector.