Women & Water

Nearly one-third of the world’s population lacks access to clean water. In many parts of the world, women bear primary responsibility for finding and collecting water to meet basic needs such as cooking, cleaning and hygiene. In some countries, water collection can take up to 60 percent of women’s working time. Water collection diverts time away from more productive economic activities and pursuits. Women’s care burden is also increased by lack of access to clean water and the prevalence of water-borne disease among children. Despite the clear connection between women and water, it is mostly men who make decisions about water resource management and development. Including a gender dimension increases the effectiveness and sustainability of water management planning and programming.

Guide to World Water Day

Teaser:

Women's Environment & Development Organization's guide to water and gender.

Editorial:

From WEDO:

Water for Life
Water vital natural resource and a human right, and the right and access to clean, safe water is intrinsically linked to gender equality. From the miles & hours women and girls spend collecting water– the implications this has on their health, education and economic opportunity– to the threat of climate change on water resources affecting all aspects of women’s and men’s lives, it is clear that water is a human rights and women’s rights issue.

We must use World Water Day to call attention to this precious resource and ask ourselves some important questions: What if you didn’t have access to safe water for your family? What could you do with 6 hours a day? What actions are we taking to make water accessible to all?

On World Water Day, WEDO reminds you to protect this vital natural resource and work towards a world which promotes and protects the human right to water.

Get the Facts
(2011) WEDO on “Women and the Right to Water“- UN Human Rights Council
(2011) WEDO Recognizes World Water Day 2011
(2009) Climate Change Connections
(2006) Women’s Caucus Declaration: 4th World Water Forum
(2005) Women’s Major Group Statement on Access to Basic Water Services
(2003) Diverting the Flow
(2003) Untapped Connections
(1998) Women Transform the Mainstream

[...]

Source:

Women's Environment & Development Organization

URL:

http://www.wedo.org/news/guide-to-world-water-day

Date:

March 22, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Macroeconomics and the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:07am

This report is the culmination of a two-day experts meeting, “Macroeconomics and the Rights to Water and Sanitation,” which took place in Lisbon, Portugal from March 31 to April 1, 2011. The meeting was organized as a means to contribute to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation’s work on gender equality and macroeconomics. To this end the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) in collaboration with the Special Rapporteur brought together economists, researchers and advocacy specialists working from a feminist perspective to offer analyses and recommendations.

URL:

http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/publications/Rights%20to%20Water%20and%20Sanitation.pdf

Member Organization:

Center for Women's Global Leadership

The Right to Water in the Americas

Submitted by RChaleff on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 5:33pm

Member Organization:

Center for Women's Global Leadership

Member Organization:

Institute for Women's Leadership

Upcoming lecture at Rutgers University

The Center for Women’s Global Leadership and Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University invite you to a public Lecture by Marcela Olivera, Bolivian water rights activist and 2011 Visiting Global Associate. The lecture will be held in the RDJC Building at 4pm on October 25th, 2011.

Please RSVP to rsvp@cwgl.rutgers.edu by October 18th.

Researchers to study spill's effect on women

Teaser:

Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine will take a close look at the spill's health impacts pregnant women and women of reproductive age in Louisiana's coastal parishes. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences provided $6.5 million to do the work. The study will follow 500 pregnant and 500 women of reproductive age over five years. It will look at women in Lafourche, Terrebonne, Orleans, Plaquemines, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes and will also look at the impact of repeated disasters on pregnancy outcomes and women's health.

Editorial:

From the article:

A new study aims to examine the oil spill's potential health effects on wives, sisters and mothers.

It's the first long-term study to examine a major spill's effects on pregnant women and women's health, said Dr. Maureen Lichtvelt, chairwoman of environmental policy for Tulane and the study's lead researcher.

“Pregnant women are always a population of concern when there are environmental exposures,” Lichtvelt said. “The developing fetus may be vulnerable to even small doses of contaminants.”

The study will also look at the impact of repeated disasters on pregnancy outcomes and women's health.

The study will follow 500 pregnant and 500 women of reproductive age over five years. It will look at women in Lafourche, Terrebonne, Orleans, Plaquemines, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes.

The National Institutes of Health, a federal research program, is conducting a long-term study to monitor the health of tens of thousands of oil-spill workers and volunteers. Three other schools also received grants totaling more than $17 million to study other oil-spill health issues, including an independent study into seafood safety.

Source:

Daily Comet

URL:

http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20110801/ARTICLES/110809999/1026/sitemaps05

Date:

August 2, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

SRI LANKA: Water Woes Fall on Women’s Shoulders

Teaser:

A water crisis has a grim impact on Sri Lanka’s women, whose long list of household chores includes securing and managing the family’s water supply. In rural areas, that can include ensuring a steady source for the family’s crops.

Editorial:

Water expert Kusum Athukorala, chairwoman of the Colombo-based Network of Women Water Professionals (NetWater), says that the impact of scarce water resources on women is at the heart of the water issue. A shortage, she says, "makes their life harder and more so because they are not part of the decision-making process".

Just about 35 percent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million people receive pipe-borne water provided by a state agency. The rest get their supply from wells, rivers or streams. Water for agriculture, mainly rice farming, is provided through a system of canals channeled from rivers and streams.

Source:

IPS

URL:

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50599

Date:

March 9, 2010

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Green Jobs: Improving the Climate for Gender Equality, Too

Submitted by kpeterson on Sun, 03/14/2010 - 1:23pm

Climate change is not gender neutral.

Women are increasingly being seen as more vulnerable than men to the effects of climate change because they represent the majority of the world’s poor and are proportionally more dependent on threatened natural resources. What is more, women tend to play a greater role than men in natural resource management – farming, planting, protecting and caring for seedlings and small trees – and in ensuring nutrition and as care providers for their families.

URL:

http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---gender/documents/publication/wcms_101505.pdf

Climate Change Excacerbates Gender Inequality

Teaser:

The negative fallout from climate change is having a devastatingly lopsided impact on women compared to men, from higher death rates during natural disasters to heavier household and care burdens.

Editorial:

A 2007 Human Development Report, issued by the U.N. Development Programme, points out that women are particularly affected by climate change because they are the largest percentage - accounting for about 70 percent - of the poor population.

Amy North, a researcher working on gender, education and global poverty reduction initiatives at the Institute of Education in the University of London, told IPS climate change is also exacerbating existing gender inequalities, with a devastating effect on the quality of life of poor women and girls.

Source:

IPS

URL:

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50613

Date:

March 9, 2010

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Women's Environment and Development Organization

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WEDO’s mission is to empower women as decision makers to achieve economic, social and gender justice, a healthy, peaceful planet, and human rights for all. Through our programs on Economic and Social Justice, Gender and Governance and Sustainable Development, WEDO emphasizes women’s critical role in social, economic and political spheres.

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Access & Disparities, Climate Change & Women, Awareness & Education, Barriers & Opportunities, Eco-Activism, Green Technology & Energy, Sustainable Development, Inclusion, Women & Water, Globalization, Women's Movements, Women's, Gender & Feminist Studies, Women's Networks, Environment, Sustainability & Energy, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Globalization, Human Rights & Security

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Climate Change

The most urgent issue of our time, climate change has widespread implications, from the exacerbation of poverty, to the breakdown of infrastructure, to the loss of environmental, political, economic and social security.

Corporate Accountability

WEDO challenges corporate activities that violate women’s rights, threaten lives and livelihoods, and destroy the environment.

UN Reform

WEDO factsheet that outlines the UN reform process and how it affects women’s lives. Provides overview and steps you can take to get involved and make change.

UN Reform: What’s at stake for women? (pdf)

Women's Political Participation & Leadership

It’s nearly a decade since WEDO launched a Global 50/50 Campaign to boost women’s representation in political decision-making positions. Today, while the absolute increase is small, women’s representation in parliaments, now averaging worldwide at 18.2 percent, is the highest it has ever been.

GEAR Campaign

The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign – founded and co-coordinated by WEDO and the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) since 2006 – has been advocating for a new, strong, unified gender entity under the United Nations system. The new entity, with predictable and substantial funding, as well as operational capacity at the country level, could truly improve the lives of women around the world.

Reports & Resources

Climate Change Connections: Gender & Population. A comprehensive resource kit from UNFPA and WEDO on gender, population and climate change. Learn how gender equality can reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts and how women are uniquely positioned to help curb the harmful consequences of a changing climate (2009).

2008 Annual Report: Building Alliances, Making Milestones. We invite you to imagine how the actions we take together bring us closer to our goal of a healthy and peaceful planet, social and economic justice and human rights for all.

Newsletter - WEDO News & Views

Center News

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Graduate Fellowships and Undergraduate Internships

Fellowship and internship applications (for graduate students and undergrads, respectively,) are accepted on a rolling basis. The duration of each fellowship/internship depends on the needs of the fellow/intern and WEDO programs, but a minimum two-month commitment is required. Fellows/interns will conduct research and writing, provide administrative assistance, attend meetings, and undertake other tasks as necessary, under the direction of the relevant programmatic staff.

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NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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