Losing out: women, water and poverty

MSN contributor Miranda Newsom visited Ethiopia with the charity WaterAid and Ecover to find out how access to clean water and sanitation can transform the lives of women.

In the West if you’re thirsty you turn on the tap. In the developing world it’s more complicated. The water burden rests most heavily on women’s shoulders, quite literally when they carry heavy cans on their backs and shoulders.

It is women who have responsibility for water for their household, livestock and families, and women and girls spend up to eight hours each day collecting water. This restricts their time and energy for school, chores or paid employment.

Unfortunately much of the water they work so hard to collect isn’t even safe to drink: 884 million people worldwide drink contaminated water and almost half the human race lives without adequate sanitation, leading to diseases that kill thousands every day. Women are the ones who nurse sick family members, and women and girls suffer indignity, wasted time and effort and even threats to their personal safety due to the lack of clean water and sanitation.

"It’s horrifying that in the 21st century so many women have no access to clean, safe water. In places like Ethiopia women’s lives are full of drudgery and economic and political powerlessness," says Helen Pankhurst, from WaterAid.

WaterAid, with the support of Ecover, are helping rural communities in Ethiopia access water and sanitation. MSN's Miranda Newsom visited some of their projects to see how something as simple as clean water can transform women’s lives.