This has been reposted from the Girls' Globe blog.
I have the great honor of being an Auntie (they call me “TT”) to two precious children – Daniel and Lucy. I had the privilege of holding each of them when they were just hours old and being a part of their lives as they grow.
I’ve also had the privilege of meeting and getting to know children in other countries, like Honduras and Ghana. I have seen the differences in the lives of those children and of my niece and nephew. I have seen the girls skipping school to carry 40 pounds of water on their heads. I have seen them vulnerable, searching for a place to go to the bathroom because there are no toilets. I have seen the girls and women who are sick from drinking contaminated water, unable to perform the plethora of daily tasks that are left to them. I can’t imagine my niece, Lucy, living in those conditions, and therefore I must imagine a better world where these girls do not have to either.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) impact all sectors of development, not the least those impacting women and girls. Around the world, they 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 womenreinvest 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. 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, 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 them at increased health risk. In India, 23% of girls drop out when they start menstruating and the rest miss a week of school each month. Girls who can get an education are better able to protect themselves from exploitation and illness, more likely to develop skills to contribute to society, less likely to marry before age 18, less likely to die in childbirth, and more likely to raise healthy and educated children when they become mothers.
WASH can improve not only girls’ health, but also their quality of life. It is changing the lives of girls in Honduras, Ghana, and around the world. Let’s break the taboos around menstruation and sanitation and spread the word about women and girls who don’t have access to their basic needs! To learn more visit:
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