DAKAR, Senegal, 24 March (IPS) – At this week’s World Water Forum (March 21-26), the international community will raise awareness of 2 billion people people who lack access to clean water and sanitation around the world. Among them are millions of women and girls, who walk hundreds of miles each year to find water for their families and are hampered in education and economic empowerment as a result of poor sanitation services.
For years we have talked about the costs to women and girls if we do not address water, sanitation and hygiene problems. But what to our community if we don’t act?
Today, the world is facing a triple crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, a climate emergency and struggling economies – all of which have reversed hard-won gains. about women’s rights.
Twelve years of quality education for women can respond to the aftermath of this three-way crisis. Strategies for women’s empowerment, gender equality and sustainability go hand in hand. And it all starts with the most basic human need – water.
Poverty, gender disparity and humanitarian crises are some of the more obvious barriers to ensuring girls go to school. However, one of the biggest obstacles is the lack of water, clean water and sanitation.
Every day, millions of children go to school in unsafe learning environments, without drinking water, without proper toilets and without soap to wash their hands. Nearly 584 million children worldwide lack basic drinking water services in their schools, while 698 million children lack basic sanitation services and nearly 818 million children lack basic sanitation.
Sanitary facilities that are shared with other households and open defecation activities place women and girls at risk of sexual assault and interfere with their ability to manage their menstrual periods privately. their privacy and dignity.
Stigma and social exclusion around the period caused many female students to drop out of school. Without proper sanitation, one in three teenage girls monthly absence from school due to lack of privacy and no access to water to wash hands after changing towels.
Just making sure schools have clean water, toilets, and soap to wash hands, increases the likelihood that girls will go to school when their period comes.
Better and more flexible access to clean water translates into immediate economic improvements. Reduce the time it takes for women and girls to collect water and spend more time studying and working. In just the next two weeks, women will miss 2.5 million working days while taking water.
A World Bank study It is estimated that limited educational opportunities for girls cost countries between $15 and $30 trillion in lost productivity and lifetime income. That’s the kind of avoidable economic fallout that any decent policymaker should urgently tackle.
But the benefits go beyond mere economic benefits. For example, the growing climate crisis is driving mass displacement, increasing food insecurity and fueling fierce competition for depleting natural resources in many regions. area in the world.
Extreme weather patterns have a huge impact on women and girls – increasing maternal mortality due to pregnant women fleeing climate disasters lacking access to services vital health service and increases the risk of human trafficking as women and girls flee for shelter.
Our humanitarian industries are hungry for more bright female leaders at the table, with solutions to the problems they face every day. And research is proving that they are more than a task.
A study in India found that the number of drinking water projects in regions with councils led by women was 62% higher compared with those with male-led councils. More than helpless victims, women have been leading transformative change. As the international community, we have a responsibility to remove the barriers that stand in their way.
Young female activists can also become powerful agents of change in their communities if they have the opportunity to be educated and act on environmental issues at school. Consider the power and influence of Greta Thunberg, who has revolutionized the way we think about climate challenges.
Indeed, research to show that that education for girls can strengthen climate strategies in three ways: by empowering girls and promoting their reproductive health and rights, promoting climate leadership and environmental decision making of girls, while developing girls’ green skills for green jobs.
If we really want to tackle the three threats to health, economy and climate change, then the international community must prioritize the needs of women and girls. We must ensure access to appropriate water, sanitation and hygiene services so that children can stay in school and focus on their future.
That is economic common sense. It is a moral obligation. And more than that, it is also a legal obligation. Governments around the world have committed to upholding international human rights for all people everywhere. It’s time we keep our promise.
Looking at this year’s roll call for the Sectoral Ministerial Conference, organized by the Sanitation and Water for All partner in Jakarta, there is reason to be optimistic.
For the first time, it will bring together ministers on water, sanitation and hygiene with their counterparts responsible for climate, environment, health and the economy. Without a truly integrated policy approach, we cannot hope to realize the overlapping benefits of something as important as girls’ education.
If we want to stop climate change, if we want economic progress, if we want to prevent the next pandemic, then we need to ensure quality education, water and sanitation for all women. women and girls everywhere.
Our future depends on it.
Dr. Aminata Touré is part of the Global Leadership Council on Sanitation and Water for All – a global partnership to achieve universal access to clean water and adequate sanitation. She is a prominent human rights activist and former Prime Minister of Senegal.
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