"Do we have reason to celebrate 25th anniversary of Dublin principles?"
Milan, 28th September 2017 - Today and tomorrow Milan hosts the First International Forum Rules of Water, Rules for Life (ROW), a new annual event on water as a multi-faceted phenomenon and key element of sustainable development organized under the auspices of the Italian G7 Presidency 2017. WfWP is present with a delegation of seven. President Mariet Verhoef-Cohen, who is also part of the jury for the new ROW Women Peacebuilders for Water Award, linked her speech in Milan to the endorsement of the Dublin Principles 25 years ago: "The international community acknowledged already in 1992 that women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water. Do we today have reason to celebrate?
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The year 1992 was a very special year: Prince Charles and Princes Diana separated. Madonna’s iconic outfit was hyped in the media. The first McDonalds was opened in Beijing and on a more serious note: The Maastricht Treaty laying the foundations of European Union was signed. Boris Jeltsin began privatising state-owned businesses in Russia. Prime Minister Rabin of Israel started peace talks with the PLO. South Africans voted for political reforms to end apartheid. The Earth Summit was held in Brazil……. And the International Conference on Water and the Environment agreed on the Dublin Principles!
And these principles are the theme of my talk. With the endorsement of the Dublin Principles, the international community acknowledged already in 1992 that women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water. Today that is 25 years ago. The question is, do we have reason to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Dublin principles? |
Read also: Declaration of Milan
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Yes and No…
I will elaborate more on the answer to this question, but first something about the link between women and water.
Women and water are inseparable. In most developing countries, water is “women’s business.” Women and girls fetch, carry, store, and manage water. Women and girls spend an estimated 152–200 million hours[1] a day collecting water –: hours which cannot be spent on more productive other activities, such as education or income generation. Women are also the primary promoters of home- and community- based sanitation.
This clearly shows how much experience women have with water! In fact, women have intimate knowledge of water sources, water quality and daily water requirements. And we, the twenty-seven members of Women for Water Partnership, have taken it upon ourselves to draw attention to the important role women play as experts, agents of change and partners in achieving equal access to water and sanitation. We are on a mission to secure the combined implementation of SDG 5 and 6.
Back to the Dublin Principles. The principles are as follows:
I believe they are still very relevant today: Although the language may be different, they are nevertheless reflected in the SDGs;
I will elaborate more on the answer to this question, but first something about the link between women and water.
Women and water are inseparable. In most developing countries, water is “women’s business.” Women and girls fetch, carry, store, and manage water. Women and girls spend an estimated 152–200 million hours[1] a day collecting water –: hours which cannot be spent on more productive other activities, such as education or income generation. Women are also the primary promoters of home- and community- based sanitation.
This clearly shows how much experience women have with water! In fact, women have intimate knowledge of water sources, water quality and daily water requirements. And we, the twenty-seven members of Women for Water Partnership, have taken it upon ourselves to draw attention to the important role women play as experts, agents of change and partners in achieving equal access to water and sanitation. We are on a mission to secure the combined implementation of SDG 5 and 6.
Back to the Dublin Principles. The principles are as follows:
- Principle No. 1: Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment.
- Principle No. 2: Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels.
- Principle No. 3: Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water.
- Principle No. 4: Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognised as an economic good.
I believe they are still very relevant today: Although the language may be different, they are nevertheless reflected in the SDGs;
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So will we have reason to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Principle 3?
Yes, there are more women leaders and experts in the water sector than there were 25 years ago. For example, in the Netherlands where we have 10 utility companies supplying drinking water to the country, five of the 10 CEOs are women. And there is also progress in acknowledging the importance of women in leadership positions. A study of the ADB revealed that:
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- at a corporate level, recent studies by McKinsey & Company, and Catalyst, reveal that companies with greater gender diversity in their leadership teams outperform those with less—often by as much as 30%.
- at community level, women’s leadership has also led to improved water security and greater efficiency.
On the other hand, the numbers are still very modest and progress is slow. Women often lack social and political power, and are systematically excluded and marginalized from decision-making processes. Despite efforts in global forums, gender considerations have largely been seen as irrelevant or marginal in decisions about “big water” issues, such as: large-scale water supply options (dams, desalination, recycling schemes); catchment management; water allocations; and water trading. This may be because there are fewer opportunities for women to meaningfully or to have a voice in these domains. But women also face many barriers to education and to access to resources, services and political influence.
Let’s take a closer look at education: it is indeed true that women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs and educational programmes. For example in Britain and Canada, if girls have a STEM degree, fewer that 50 per cent go on to work in STEM-related occupations. In research, female engineers lag far behind their male colleagues in numbers, salary, rank, and tenure in most countries, and the numbers drop even more significantly for women working in the fields of engineering and technology.
That said girls are storming the ivory towers in academic education. The gap is down to only 5% worldwide. Women dominate in health, education, the arts and humanities, whereas men choose engineering, computing and physics. However, slowly but surely, an increasing number of girls are entering more technical disciplines.
You would expect this would lead to a higher number of jobs for women in these sectors. Unfortunately, it is not true. If women do take up these kinds of jobs, they usually resign after 3 to 5 years, generally due to unfavourable working conditions and cultural constraints – and NOT because of pregnancy! Across the globe there are millions of water-related jobs. According to World Water Development Report of 2016, women hold only 17% of the paid jobs in the water sector.
On the positive side, there is more awareness of the fact that women and men together must bring about the changes needed and in international declarations, such as the Dublin Principles, greater attention is paid to the critical role women play in the water sector.
But sadly, there still aren’t enough positive changes to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Dublin principles. Women still face obstacles to full involvement in water management. Why?
For one there is the clear divide between domestic use from other productive uses of water. Women use water for the household, subsistence farming and other non-income-producing uses – all of which are extensions of their domestic roles.
Water management is largely seen as technology driven, and for generations technology has not been perceived as women’s business! Even women themselves believe that. For example, a study in Ghana and Zambia found that small-scale irrigation technologies are adopted by female-headed households at two-thirds the rate of male-headed households, with female-headed households more likely to adopt manual technologies (e.g., buckets and wetlands) and male-headed households more likely to adopt motor pumps and river diversions. Women made up only 6 per cent of all buyers of motor pumps in Tanzania and 18 percent in Kenya. These buyers were rarely women in married households purchasing pumps for their own use, but rather unmarried women or married women purchasing pumps for their husbands.
The distribution of irrigation technology is closely related to land rights and division of labour. Just as women are not allocated land beyond what is required for subsistence, women rarely apply mechanised irrigation technologies to their plots of land because the low commercial value of their yields is not seen to justify the investment. Nonetheless, in some cases, for example in Ethiopia, women do express an interest in mechanised irrigation technologies for greater financial independence and household food security. There is a demand for solar pumps to reduce both domestic and field labour requirements near the households under women’s supervision. A positive development!
The reasons why women lag behind are no longer linked only to differences in the levels of education, but rather to values and beliefs about the position and role of women. For example, women are perceived as unsuitable for fieldwork because of the unsafe working environment, amongst other reasons, due to a lack of sanitation facilities.
In short, social and institutional barriers, stereotyping, lack of female role models and a so-called “engineering culture” which is traditionally male dominated prevent women from having careers or becoming influential in the water sector….and I dare say, also in many other sectors.
To summarise: there are some positive developments in respect to women in the water sector. These include the 50% women CEOs in the utilities business in the Netherlands, better and higher educational levels for girls and more attention to the role of women in the international statements produced at Water Summits. But I also have showed the other side of the coin: the limited number of professional women in the water sector, the persistent misconceptions and values about the role of women which make it difficult to achieve change.
All in all, the role of women as water professionals and/or traditional water managers is not valued enough. Projects managed by women are often not recognised as contributing to Integrated Water Resource Management. Infrastructure is not maintained, also because women are left behind and not being trained as plumbers etc.
What can we do to change the situation?
First of all, it requires a change in the mind-set to view women as agents of change rather than as victims, vulnerable groups or only beneficiaries. Due to their experience with water, women have tangible knowledge of water management: women are experts, leaders and agents of change. Women for Water Partnership is telling this story everywhere and we hope you will join us.
Secondly, we must combine the implementation of SDG 5 and 6 in national action plans. This does not happen automatically, and we have to influence policymakers and budget holders. Many countries consider women and water issues as part of their priorities, but in practice there is little “horizontal” coordination between the two. We are often faced with different ministries, different advisors, and different mechanisms, not only at country level but also in the UN.
Moreover, it is effective to include women at all levels of decision-making. It is also helpful to set quotas. Having at least 40% women in water governing bodies and ensuring their voices are actually heard are two examples. We want women to stand up and be counted, but it is even more important that these women raise their voices and demand attention!
It is also effective to involve women in designing, budgeting, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programmes in the field of water and sustainable development. It goes together with allocation of sufficient means for empowerment, capacity development, vocational training, career enhancement, to enable women to fulfil these roles. Finances should reach women directly, because that is the most effective and efficient way. UN Water estimates that merely involving women can increase the effectiveness of water projects six or seven-fold.
There is an increasing shortage of qualified professionals: vacancies cannot be filled in the water sector, and SDG 6 cannot be achieved with the current capacity of human resources. Let’s create the conditions and develop new curricula at different levels of vocational training to fill the gap, not only for girls, but also for adult women!
It is also of utmost importance to collect good data. Why? Because it is impossible to evaluate water access without looking at the matter from both the men’s and women’s point of view. For example, there are many cases where boreholes are being drilled and thus, according to the statistics, there is access to clean drinking water. But often the women do not actually make use of these boreholes because it is not in a safe environment. They are afraid of being sexually harassed, or worse. Therefore, unless you are prepared to look at the situation through the lens of women, you will never find out why this borehole is not used. Next, women and men are different types of users. So, it is important to look at access to water and sanitation through the lens of both women and men, and to collect the data accordingly in order to realistically monitor the implementation of the SDGs.
Last year, the High-Level panel on Water described what success would look like if women were included in all realms of the water sector. They mentioned 12 big achievements, I mention a few:
- Women will have access to land, water rights and finance at the same level as men.
- Women will hold positions of leadership and power in water and sanitation-focused organisations.
- Women’s organisations will be engaged and consulted
- Women will take up more places in the fields of engineering, government, law and science to support their engagement in the water and sanitation governance sectors.
- Women and girls, boys and men will all work together after a natural disaster, including those resulting from climate change.
- Men will be champions of equality and involved in all levels of gender mainstreaming so that change is owned by men and women alike.
- Women and children will no longer bear the burden of carrying heavy water from far away.
- Women for Water Partnership will work hard to make this vision come true and we count on your help!
Before I end, I wish to share some news with you: Together with UNSGAB, the Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation of the Secretary General of the United Nations, we have launched the idea of an international UN year for Water and Women. We learned that the government of Hungary has agreed to spearhead this initiative and table a resolution in the United Nations together with South Africa this autumn. The aim for implementation is the year 2019.
I’m very excited about this initiative. Just imagine a whole international year devoted to Water and Women; a special year, in which we will be able to stress the positive role of women in the success of water projects, in innovation, and in efficient use of resources.
At the same time, it would provide an excellent and much needed opportunity to raise awareness among men and boys that real change can only be achieved by working together.
Funds could be raised and set aside to encourage women to become better educated in water matters: from vocational training to post-graduate education.
It will give a boost to effective management of water scarcity, as women play important roles in preserving this precious resource.
Last but not least, a special year devoted to Water and Women will stress the importance of combining the implementation of SDG 5 and SDG 6, at all levels.
Ladies and gentlemen, if this is achieved, we will be able to answer the question whether we have reason to celebrate the anniversary of Dublin Principle 3 with an unqualified YES!
Thank you for your attention.
[1] ADB 2016
