Woman, Water and Work: The Impact of Closer-to-Home Access to Water Supply on the Time-use and Livelihood of Women

Abstract

The paper describe the pertinent question related to produce a fact sheet on women, water and work; in what way does closer-to-home access to water benefit women, particularly how they use the saved time in more beneficial activities? While there is enough evidence suggesting that closer access of poor women to water results in the reduction of work load and drudgery of collecting and hauling water from long distance every day, more time to rest and for leisure by women, better family health conditions, increased school enrolment among girls etc, there seems rare information on whether and how the poor women utilized the saved time to participate in the labor market and earned money? The paper is basically a fact sheet collected through an e-discussion on Gender and Water Alliance network site as well refering to information available on the subject. The fact sheet consolidate, identify and analyze the impact of water supply projects on livelihoods of poor women and the internal dynamics it triggers in existing power relationships. Whether, the time saved due to safe access to water have resulted in women participating in education, trainings, exposures and similar value adding services which has helped them in initiating and sustaining business enterprises, better quality of life and empowerment. At the same time, an attempt is made to discuss if the poor women rather have ended up in the same drudgery situation of working more hours as laborers in farm plots or other such activities. Broadly, in what practical way do women benefit?