International Women's Day!

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) impact all sectors of development, not the least those impacting women and girls. Around the world, women and girls collectively spend 200 billion hours fetching water and finding a place to use the bathroom. What could they do with this time, if they had water and a toilet? Girls could spend time in school, instead of missing at least 3 hours each day. Women could put time into income-producing activities. It's been shown that women reinvest 90% of their income back into their families, contributing to overall community development.

Women and girls are continuously used as the infrastructure for electricity, plumbing, and and childcare. They are the primary collectors of water and firewood in the developing world. Women and girls carry 40 pounds of water on their heads each time they fetch water, increasing their risk of back and hip pan, malnutrition, and anemia. In addition to missing at least 3 hours of school each day, women and girls walk an average of 6 kilometers to fetch water each day. A 15-minute decrease in collection time can increase girls' school attendance by 8-12%.

In searching for a place to use the bathroom, women and girls risk danger and sexual assault, especially because they are confined to leaving their houses in the dark to avoid shame of going in daylight. This waiting can cause serious illness like infection, chronic constipation, and mental stress. If schools don't offer single gender sanitation facilities with ways to dispose of menstrual waste, girls miss a week of school each month or drop out altogether.

The taboo of menstruation that even we in the United States feel is preventing the education of young girls throughout the world, and putting women at increased health risk. The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council has declared today, International Women's Day, to also be Menstrual Hygiene Management Day. Let's recognize the impact WASH has on women and girls, education, health, and economic growth, and work together across all sectors to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. Happy International Women's and Menstrual Hygiene Management Day - celebrate the women in your life and the blessings of access to clean water and adequate sanitation.