Women and WASH in Nairobi, Kenya

 In my last blog, I looked at some realities in the WASH sector, one of which is the experience of women and girls. The importance of this is recognised in SDG 6.2, which is to ‘achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all … paying special attention to the needs of women and girls’. This blog will look at the experiences of women and girls in the WASH sector, focusing on informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.  

Inadequate sanitation results in various health, economic and social impacts that disproportionality affect women and girls, especially in informal settlements. Impacts on women reported in Mathare, an informal settlement in Nairobi, include violence (68% of women reported), respiratory illness (46% reported) and diarrhea (30% reported). Illness increases economic burdens which mostly affect women, as they have to miss work to care for the sick. Women and girls have specific hygiene needs, such as menstruation, requiring adequate sanitation. Without, many girls and women miss out on education and work, reducing their economic potential.

Furthermore, women have a 38% higher HIV prevalence then men in Nairobi slums. Already disadvantaged, living with HIV makes them more vulnerable to other infectious diseases and they also require more water daily and more frequent access to sanitation facilities. Therefore, there is a cycle of disadvantage for women, not only are they more likely to get HIV, if they do they need more water and access to toilets, which can increase their risk of violence.

For women and girls, sanitation is also about safety. Inadequate sanitation facilities can lead to gender-based violence against women, such as sexual assault and rape. Long distances to toilets are common in informal settlements, such as in Mathare, where 85 households share one toilet and the average distance to a toilet is 52 meters, as shown in Figure 1. The long distance between houses and toilets can increase the vulnerability of women and girls to violence, especially at night. Violence against women is ‘endemic’ in Nairobi’s slums. This results in women and girls using ‘flying toilets’ in which human waste is put in plastic bags and thrown into the open.

Figure 1: Map showing toilets with a 30-meter radius in Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya.

There have been efforts to increase the number of toilets in informal settlements, Figure 2 shows new toilets in Nairobi. However, even when toilets are available, some women choose not to use them, due to concerns over safety, privacy, costs and cleanliness. Therefore, the solution isn’t just to increase the number of toilets available, but to increase safety and privacy, such as improving the lighting in and around public toilets. There is a need to recognise these often-overlooked factors that influence women’s ability to access and use sanitation facilities.

 

 Figure 2: New toilet blocks in Mathare Valley, Nairobi, Kenya.

Attempts by the Nairobi government to improve access to basic services have failed take into account the needs of women and girls. Facilitating women in WASH decision making not only empowers women but can improve WASH services by understanding specific female needs that may be overlooked by men. WASH must be seen through a gender lens, paying attention to the needs of women and girls, and thereby ensuring their access to water and sanitation, which is a human right. Achieving gender equality in the WASH sector will not only meet SDG 6.2 but also help embed gender equality into policy in other parts of the SDG agenda, such as education.