Women and girls are facing the most severe consequences of global water shortages and inadequate sanitation, according to a new UN report highlighting the disproportionate impact on their health, education, and food security. The findings underscore how systemic gender inequalities in water access are hindering the development of poorer nations and exacerbating existing challenges. The UN warns that women and girls are primarily responsible for collecting water in over 70% of rural households without access to piped water in developing regions. Globally, they spend 250 million hours daily on this task, a burden that deepens poverty and limits opportunities for education and economic advancement. Climate change is intensifying these issues, with a 1°C temperature rise reducing incomes in female-headed households by 34% more than in male-headed ones. Women’s weekly labor hours also increase by an average of 55 minutes compared to men’s, further straining their already overburdened roles. The report emphasizes that poor sanitation disproportionately affects women, with 10 million adolescent girls in 40 low-income countries missing school, work, or social activities between 2016 and 2022 due to lack of toilets. In 2024, over 2.1 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water, and 3.4 billion lacked safely managed sanitation. Women are also underrepresented in decisions about water rights tied to agricultural land, which are often linked to property ownership. In many countries, men hold twice the amount of land, while women face discrimination in land tenure rights. Data collection on gender disparities in water access remains inadequate, as many nations and institutions fail to track statistics broken down by sex.#un #unesco #world_vision #khaled_el_enany #alvaro_lario
