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Water projects? Think of women, minister says
Government plans to provide water to people may cost more if the initiatives do not consider gender, says a minister
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Government plans to provide water to people may cost more if the initiatives do not consider gender, says a minister.
Women are often not included in the picture when it comes to water-related projects even though women are close to water in their every-day lives, said Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar, the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister.
"In almost every village, it is a woman's responsibility to provide water, whether as a mother or daughter," Linda said Wednesday at water-saving workshop in Jakarta.
However, she gave a discouraging example where women were excluded from a water project in Pacitan, East Java.
"The mothers said that the source of water and its container, which was built by the government *a local public works agency*, was constructed far from their settlement and in a low area," she said.
The woman sometimes had to carry several buckets back-and-forth to get enough water for the day, she added.
Men in the village controlled vehicles such as motorcycles, which could make fetching water an easier task, Linda said.
"Planners should be aware of the different conditions: women on foot and men on motorcycles. In housework, water is closely-related to domestic work. Distances between water sources and settlements should be calculated carefully," she said.
Indonesia has high annual rainfall levels and is the world's fifth largest water-rich country, but several islands have been had water shortages since 2000, says a government report.
Linda said that women are potential assets for environmental management and water saving programs and that their potential can be further developed with initiatives that include local values.
"Women have the potential to safeguard the environment and the ecosystem's balance. Women's participation in protecting the environment is highly important in everyday life," she said.
Firdaus Ali, a water expert from the University of Indonesia, agreed. An International Water and Sanitation Center report on community-based water and sanitation practices said that women's full participation in projects is valuable and made the programs successful, he said.
The study was conducted in 88 communities in 15 countries including Indonesia.
Around 35 percent of domestic water use is for bathing, 20 to 30 percent is for sanitation and 20 to 25 percent is for washing, said the report.
Women are responsible for two-thirds of household water use and are ideal targets for water saving, recycling and conservation programs, he said.
The government has conducted several water preservation projects aimed at women, said Masnellyarti Hilman, the deputy minister for nature conservation enhancement and environmental degradation control in the office of the Environment Minister.
"In some areas, we tell the women to use traditional tales to teach their children *about conserving water*," she said.
The ministry, in cooperation with local authorities, has conducted lectures aimed at women in almost 10 regencies in Yogyakarta and Central Java.
However, she said that such projects involved behavioral and attitudinal changes and thus required long assessment periods.
Setiawati, an official of the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, said that the awareness of Indonesian women of their role in water use and conservation must be increased.
"More attention is needed," she added.
Kamir Brata, a water expert, said that women and men could participate in making biopores, which are small holes bout 10 centimeters wide and 100 centimeters deep that are filled with organic waste to conserve ground water and prevent flooding.
