Basic services
What is good for women is good for all
The positive impacts of making women central to water, sanitation and hygiene improvements
Authors:
J. Fisher
Publisher:
Water and Environmental Health at London and Loughborough , 2006
This briefing provides evidence to demonstrate how women's empowerment and the improvement of water supply, sanitation facilities and hygiene practice are linked.
It highlights some of the benefits of placing women and their concerns at the centre of decision-making about such interventions:
- improved levels of service and better health outcomes when women are involved in planning and management, operation and maintenance, administration of funds and awareness-raising of safe hygiene practice
- better health for all, due to women's knowledge of local practice and involvement in group initiatives to bring about behaviour change in the community
- greater privacy for women and therefore dignity associated with menstruation, personal hygiene and safety
- better health and well-being for women through safer childbirth, less risk of injury from carrying heavy loads and attempting to reach dangerous water sources
- improvements in personal hygiene, health and independence for disabled persons
- increases in girls’ school attendance and as a result improved female literacy levels
- raising the status of women as they develop skills and knowledge that present opportunities for employment and participation in more public roles
- greater possibilities for income generation for women
