Water sustains human life and underpins many human activities. Deteriorating water quality
and increasing frequency and intensity of floods pose major challenges for societies. Changing
seasonal and regional rainfall patterns will influence the availability of water resources.
The impacts of climate change on water resources and the water cycle, as well as the
availability of water in sufficient quantity and quality, will have wide-ranging effects on
societies, public health, economic activities and the environment.
Gender dimensions
Gendered roles and responsibilities play a central role in water provision and management. In
Uganda, women are primarily responsible for water for household use, while men are seen as
responsible for water use in business-related activities like agriculture or livestock farming.
Nevertheless, women use water for subsistence agriculture and small livestock rearing, as well
as for productive work and home industries.
Water scarcity, heavy rainfall and more frequent flooding lead to additional burdens for
women. Women have to spend additional time collecting water, cleaning and maintaining their
houses after floods and caring for their families. In order to provide water for their households
and subsistence agriculture, women often have to walk long distances, carrying heavy weights.
For example, in Uganda, women sometimes expend up to 27% of their caloric intake on
collecting water.
According to the World Health Organization, 80 per cent of all illnesses in the world are
attributable to unsafe water and sanitation. Water-borne diseases kill millions of people every
year, and many more become ill with diarrhoea, malaria, hepatitis and other diseases because
of the absence of clean sanitation facilities. In Uganda, the lack of female-only toilets impedes
girls from attending school. Women’s reproductive functions make their immune systems more
sensitive to water contamination, which means that their health may be impaired more
severely than that of men.
In many cases, access to water is linked to land rights, women’s right to own or inherit land is
prohibited or restricted. If women do have access to land, their plot often has poor quality soil
or does not provide sufficient access to irrigation.
Water is a public good and a basic requirement for life on Earth. As a result of climate change,
clean water will become more-scarce. Privatisation may add further pressure to water
distribution and have unjust consequences. Low-income households, particularly those headed
by women, struggle to pay large lump sums for water connections and additional monthly
payments. As a result, women have been central in the struggle against the sale of public water
services to transnational companies.
Water scarcity is increasingly becoming a trigger for conflicts. The growing number of conflicts
and wars leads to increasing numbers of displaced people and refugees, the majority of which
are women and children. The loss of land and water resources causes even more insecurity
among refugees, and puts an extra burden on women. Securing access to land and safe water
are major challenges for the resettlement of women refugees and their families. Moreover,
most violent conflicts aggravate the existing unequal opportunities for access to water.
Although women manage most household water issues and have important knowledge and
experience in saving water, they are seldom consulted and their needs are inadequately
considered. As studies of water supply governance have shown, the whole gender dimension is
excluded in debates on participation schemes and policies. Because of the significant gender
differences in use, access and management of water, women’s participation is essential for
successful water management and adaptation planning.
Our Response
Water availability is heavily impacted by climate change. It is evident that women will be much
more affected than men by impacts like increasing water scarcity, increasing desertification,
more and heavier floods and water-borne diseases.
Women’s access to water is particularly compromised in situations of scarcity. When there is
competition for water, poor people often lose out to those who can afford more powerful
machinery for extracting water or those who have more political and economic influence. Such
consequences have often been reported, although they are still not taken into account in
practice.
To support the integration of gender knowledge into policy and planning, it is necessary to train
planners and raise their awareness of gender issues. Toolkits available from women’s or gender
networks should be used as a starting point, and gender networking between experts from the
North and the South should be strengthened.
Uganda is developing national adaptation plans and/or adaptation measures and projects., and
identifying priority activities to respond to urgent and immediate needs. Coping with water
scarcity, heavy rainfalls and floods are important issues to take into account in adaptation
planning, and the equal participation of women and men is indispensable for successful
planning. Additionally, gender experts should be consulted during the planning process. Gender
aspects must be integrated into the whole procedure (research – consultation – planning –
implementation – monitoring), supported by appropriate tools.
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