Introduction

The Significance of Africa

Hello and welcome to my blog! Over the next few weeks, I will be exploring the interconnected relationships between water, development and gender in Africa. This first post of my blog follows shortly after reading Binyavanga Wainaina's satirical essay 'How to Write About Africa'. I thought that this would be a good starting point for my blog as Wainaina (2019) ironically illustrates the common narrative that people tend to use in popular media when writing about Africa, that is one which often generalises and homogenises the diverse physical, social and economic landscapes across Africa. Indeed, these Western narratives often 'treat Africa as if it were one country', stereotyping all citizens as those who must have an 'AK-47' in hand, or those who are 'starving' with 'prominent ribs' (Wainaina, 2019). Therefore, I should be careful in the following weeks to not perpetuate these stereotypes and generalisations. 

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Reading Wainaina's essay has not only encouraged me to think about how I should write my ideas surrounding water, development and gender, but it has also made me more aware of the danger of engaging in performative allyship. Whilst an ally is a person who 'uses their privilege to advocate for a marginalised group', someone who engages in performative allyship is one who 'professes support and solidarity with a marginalised group in a way that either isn’t helpful or that actively harms that group' (Phillips, 2020). During the course of writing my blog, I also aim to be cautious to not partake in this performative allyship; rather, I aim to hopefully express my findings and ideas about water and gender in an accessible way to a wide audience. I acknowledge that as a South Asian woman who has grown up in London, it is important that I reflect on my positionality in relation to what I write in the following weeks.

Water, Gender and Development: What's the Link?

Development itself is a process rather than an outcome, in the sense that it is dynamic and usually involves a positive change or improvement within a country (Johnston et al, 2000). Over the years, particularly from the 1970s to the present day, there has been a shift from a welfare approach to a more mainstream approach in relation to gender and development (Oberhauser et al, 2014). Indeed, several approaches from the UN and other global development agencies have attempted to mainstream gender in development, such as through the Millennial Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 3rd MDG, to 'promote gender equality and empower women', was successful to some extent in achieving gender equality for primary education, however, this goal was replaced by the 5th SDG in 2015 to 'achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls' by 2030 (Cornwall et al, 2007). The 6th SDG to 'ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all' works together with the 5th SDG to tackle water and gender inequalities within development initiatives. Thus, in order for these goals to be met, it is imperative that we understand the gendered relationship between water and development in Africa.

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Interestingly, the issues around development in parts of Africa are not to do with the volume of water, rather, it is related to the distribution, access and supply of water. In my blog, I will explore the problems of gender inequality in relation to the distribution, access and supply of water in different countries within Africa and how this is linked specifically with the disparities in development. 

Undoubtedly, there is an inextricable link between water, development and gender across Africa. Whilst I have only briefly touched on the background between these links in this post, in the following weeks I hope to delve deeper into these relationships surrounding the issues of: water collection, menstrual health, climate change and agriculture with case studies from different countries within Africa.