Vulnerability and violence

As discussed in my previous posts, the traditional nature in which some women are expected to travel long distances to collect water subjects them to the threat of sexual harassment. 80% of households where water collection is not within close proximity to the home is carried out by women and girls (Kayser et al. 2019). Furthermore, these women are threatened by sexual harassment when they are forced to openly defecate due to a lack of sanitation provisioning. This threat is heightened by cultural norms that deem it inappropriate for women to openly defecate in the presence of people or at the risk of being seen. Hence, they are obliged to do so when it is dark which is a more unpredictable and unsafe period to be alone as a woman. In this post I am going to specifically look at cases of sexual harassment arising during water collection alongside sexual harassment that occurs as a result of a lack of basic sanitation facilities. Whilst there is a variety of definitions around gender-based violence, this post will home in specifically on the key factors of sexual violence (including ‘rape, assault, molestation and inappropriate touching) and psychological violence (including ‘harassment, eve-baiting, bullying or other actions that may cause fear, stress or shame’) (Sommer et al. 2014: 107).

A woman walking alone to collect water. Source

On average, African women dedicate a total of 200 million hours every day retrieving water from near and distant sources (Pommells et al. 2018). This time travelling on foot causes the potential for sexual violence to occur from non-partners away from the safety of their home. However, it is perhaps too optimistic for me to refer to home as 'safe'. Many women are not always safe at home due to the potential for sexual violence to occur from their partners if they have spent a long duration of time out of the house in order to collect water (Ademun, 2009). A study conducted at Uganda Christian University, Uganda, represented the voices of professionals within this area of gendered-violence in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda (Pommells et al. 2018). One of the focus groups discussed how ‘it is a generally accepted practice of the community’ for rape to occur when women are collecting water (Pommells et al. 2018: 1854). This ties directly back to my post on time poverty which highlights how one of the biggest challenges facing women is not the accessibility of water, but the deeply embedded gender mindset that ‘allows’ this type of discrimination to occur without question. A key point arising from a male focus group emphasised the vulnerability particularly of young girls who are more desirable due to their virginity and status of being ‘clean’ (Pommells et al. 2018: 1855). Furthermore, young girls are less aware of how to protect themselves and the perception of them being ‘naïve’ further subjects them to potential violence (Pommells et al. 2018: 1855). In another study focused in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it was also confirmed that young girls are the most likely victims of rape on their way to collect water. A UNICEF project calculated that between June 2006 and May 2007, 12,867 individuals were raped in the eastern part of the DRC of which 3,740 alone were young girls (Kirchner, 2007). However, this figure remains under-representative as many incidences are not reported due to the inability to seek medical help, or simply out of fear of the stigma of rape. 

In addition to sexual harassment as a consequence of travelling to collect water, the lack of suitable sanitation facilities for women forces them to openly defecate in high-risk conditions. Open defecation refers to the act of defecating in an open space as oppose to within a private toilet. The majority of women who openly defecate do it at dawn or in the evening due to cultural or religious pressure (Cairncross, 2003). Travelling alone in the dark leaves women vulnerable to sexual harassment, such as in Kenya where over 45% of women aged 15-49 have experienced some form of sexual violence (Winter and Barchi, 2016). A project studying the 2008 data of the Kenya Demographic Health Survey uncovered that women who openly defecate in Kenya are 40% more likely to experience sexual violence from men who are not their partners, demonstrating the risk that a lack of water and sanitation facilities causes (Winter and Barchi, 2016). Nonetheless, whilst open defecation submits women to sexual threats, seldom is it the only cause of violence linked directly to sanitation. Women may choose to openly defecate from fear of harassment in public facilities where locks or doors from these private cubicles are missing (Khosla, 2000).

Public toilets donated by a charity in Kibera, Kenya. Source

Evidently, there is a direct link between water, sanitation and the threat of sexual violence towards women in Africa. By looking at how women are subjected to harassment from travelling for water, and similarly through the act of open defecation, it is clear that the cultural gender norms of some African nations cause double discrimination. Women are firstly discriminated on the basis of their expected social position within the household with the tasks they are expected to carry out, such as water collection. Secondly, they are discriminated further within these roles where it is common within the culture for rape and sexual abuse to occur. In my opinion, it is this second form of discrimination that is the most severe as it is possible to install sanitation facilities through the help of international aid projects,  but it is a greater challenge to alter the cultural norms of a society. I would also like to emphasise that I am not suggesting that the entire continent of Africa exercises gender discrimination, but there are some nations that do represent inequality.