My Final Thoughts

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 As this is my last post, I think it is important to reflect on the journey which I have been on with my blog, what I have learnt and what the future looks like for women’s development in Africa. The aim of this blog was to look not just at water and gender in Africa, but also pay close attention to power relations at every level in different areas. As I started this blog, I will also end it by prefacing that one of the most important goals was to remove the stereotypes of Africa as one homogenous place. Africa in fact is a continent filled with a wealth of culture, landscapes and socio-economic backgrounds. There is no one size fits all solution when looking at a problem as wide gender and water. What works in one area or country will not necessarily work in another and in order to come up with solutions we need to embrace these complexities. 

Source: IFAD on Twitter

In terms of women’s access to water, there is still a long way to go. Physically there is enough water for everyone to have access, the problem is just one of distribution. But for women, there is an extra layer of issues drawn from unequal gender relations. Through my blog, the more I read the more I understood that for many women there are barriers at every level. In the communities, there are still strict patriarchal norms which create emotions of fear when it comes to women’s participation. Also, at the government level, there is still unequal representation and opportunities for women, although some governments are taking steps towards reducing these inequalities as seen in South Africa (UN Water, 2020). Finally, at the international level, there are also barriers to women in Africa being heard. Top-down approaches carried out by major development institutions in the past have often been disengaged from the needs of the women and focused on their own goals which have exacerbated the problems. 

All these factors together create a difficult scenario for women to create change. But not impossible. Though international organisations, governments and local community projects all adopting a feminist lens to stay conscious of how their practices have gendered impacts there is the possibility to make real change. 

 I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog. Thank you!

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