Water and Women

Water issues not only disproportionately affect women, there solutions can also be driven by women.  This is the principle of an article entitled Women and the Future of Water. (Props to my brother who sent me this article)  So, why can we women play a huge role in the World Water Crisis?

Women are the primary consumers in our nation.  Yes, ladies, the fact that we shop for the men in our lives and consume more than most of the men in our lives has been noted.  Since, most women make the food decisions for the family, we can choose options that use less water.  That means less meat, tea over coffee, or one of the beverage producers that has committed to reducing less water in their production process.

We also drive the stuff side of things.  We can choose to consume more water conscious products, energy efficient appliances, and let's be honest - do we really need another pair of jeans?

On the other side of things,  women are more often then not the ones who are responsible for collecting water.  According to the article I mentioned above, "Gary White, cofounder of Water.org, estimates that the associated lost productivity is greater than the combined hours worked in a week by employees at Walmart, United Parcel Service, McDonald's, IBM, and Kroger."  200 million work hours are consumed in just one day - this is the equivalent to be building 28 empire state buildings.

That means girls missing school and women losing time they could be putting toward earning for the family.  In additional to girls not attending school because they are fetching water, lack of hygiene also interferes with girl's ability to attend school after a certain age.

If safe, clean, gender-specific bathroom facilities are not available at schools, girls often stop going or at least miss one week each month due to menstruation.  When water is not easily accessible, it is much harder to clean up and take care of business.  Likewise, if the necessary hygiene supplies are not available, and girls depend rudimentary methods, such as old clothes, functioning in a school environment is not possible.

So, women, next time you are complaining about the evils of the uterus - just be glad there is a bathroom with running water :)