Environment & Ecosystem Science (EES)

Water is a basic human right that is essential for survival and human wellbeing. However, women have disproportionate rights to collection, access and distribution of the resource in good quality compared to men. This review explores the challenges that women of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region face in their water roles and the overall impact of the issues on sustainable water management (SWM). Findings showed that women as primary water collectors are burdened with the resource’s administration roles and face various dangers, risks, vulnerabilities and health etiologies in their quest to access water points. These include the risks of falls, body aches and slips, attacks by assailants and animals, kidnaps and sexual abuse by domineering males, fear and anxiety as well as spousal violence due to inadequacies in providing enough water. The tendencies are more pronounced in rural settings and are attributable to social-cultural norms of the region. SSA men perceive women as their subordinates and hence, their disempowerment, inequitable treatment and their apparent discrimination in water responsibilities compared men. Moving forward, the need to deconstruct gendered water by involving women in water governance, improving water infrastructure, revision of water management policies and having gender-shared water responsibilities are emphasized to drive SWM and sustainable development at large.