Posts

Hotter than (Sa)hel

-
Image
As my blog draws to a close, I want to finish on a heated issue: the instability of the Sahel region. Home to Lake Chad - a transboundary freshwater source - the area has become a locus for intersecting challenges of climate change. Temperatures in the Sahel are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average, depleting natural resources at a rate that outstrips demand. Since the 1960s, Lake Chad has shrunk by 90% - a figure that equates to approximately 24,500km² ( Figure 1) . Yet the livelihoods of 30 million people within Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon still depend upon it. For an area that is already characterised by poor governance, a persistent economic crisis and a bourgeoning terrorist organisati on ( Boko Haram ), this does not bode well. In fact, it only exacerbates existing crises , creating conflicts that have a gendered impact. This brings me to the topic of my final blog on water and gender: climate-related challenges for indigenous women in the Sahel.  Figure 1:  L
Post a Comment
Read more

Making visible the "invisible"

-
Image
Today marks 'International Disability Day', bringing the rights and needs of disabled persons to the forefront of society. In an effort to contribute, this week's blog is dedicated to the relationship between disabled people and water within Africa.  In March 2010,  ‘Water, Sanitation and Disability in Rural West Africa’  was published. This report  looks into the lives of 260 disabled people living in rural Mali, highlighting the significant barriers that are faced when collecting and using water. However, over 11 years have passed since the publication and disabled persons remain a largely excluded group from both society and policies. Confined to their homes as a result of stigmatisation and poor resources, disabled people have been termed the  “hidden poor” . This post aims to make visible the “invisible”.   Social Challenges Across rural West Africa, disabled people are the most isolated and vulnerable members of communities. Born out of a  fear that disability spreads
2 comments
Read more

Part II: It's that time of the month... (to break cycles of inequality)

-
Image
Speak Up In my previous blog, I highlighted the period taboos across Africa. For part two of this topic, I want to draw attention to ' Speak Up '; an NGO based in Dakar, Senegal. By increasing awareness for sustainable development, this organisation catalyses leadership and policy change. Its name, 'Speak Up', acts as a short and snappy motivator for what has been a long-term issue: oppression (of African people and places).  No Taboo Periods This oppression disproportionately harms women. It manifests in gendered discrimination that hinders multiple dimensions of female life, one example being menstrual cycles. Therefore, in 2016, the Senegalese organisation launched a three-year campaign called 'No Taboo Periods' . Its aim was to break the cycle of inequality that perpetuates shame and fear during menstruation. By consequence, menstrual management could become a public health priority.  Source: 'No Taboo Periods.' Female development requires men Educat
Post a Comment
Read more

Part I: Bloody Taboos

-
Image
121.7 years  are to pass before the gender gap in Sub-Saharan Africa is closed, according to the World Economic Forum (2021). Cross-country disparities are wide, but the general trend is that progress is stalled - even “ slightly reversed ”. So what does this mean for women and their periods? Compounded by water inaccessibility, the consequences reside in shame, social exclusion and missed school days.  Figure 1  displays words commonly associated with ‘menstruation’ across Africa, demonstrating the  psychological trauma  that emerges from misconceptions.  Socio-cultural norms perpetuate cycles of inequality that will do little to speed up these ‘121.7 years’.  Figure 1:  created via Monkey Learn Word Cloud Sworn to Secrecy One particular article spurred me to dedicate this week to the topic of menstruation. A study conducted in the Tatale-Sanguli District of northern Ghana discovered a striking cultural norm. Before menstruation, women - the primary water collectors - must fetch e
8 comments
Read more

A 'shit' definition

-
Image
The topic for this week addresses the intersections between gender, water-collection and disease. Whilst many studies have examined the threat of water-borne diseases across the African continent, few have explored distance to the water source as a risk factor. A potential explanation for this gap is the understanding and use of the term “improved water source” within dominant discourse.  Global institutions such as WHO and UNICEF carry significant weight within the realm of policy-making and in fact, established a joint program for monitoring water supply in 1990. Consequently, the language deployed by these institutions is important, determining how policies will materialise.  An “improved water source” includes piped household water, public taps or standpipes, boreholes, protected wells, springs and rainwater collection. It came to be defined as ‘that which can be accessed within 30 minutes’.  Arguably, the ambiguity of the term has led to little improvement for the lives of women
2 comments
Read more

Politicising Infrastructure, Materialising Stigma

-
Image
Violence.  When we think of the word, our mind often wanders to images of fighting and war. But this week's blog presents an alternative understanding of 'violence': symbolic. It imagines a concept that is embedded within gendered roles; that which is led by the State and materialises through infrastructure. Arguably, violence can be silent and socially accepted.   Rogers and O’Neill understand discrimination as operative through broken, absent or disconnected infrastructure. By distinguishing between those who have access to a safe, nearby water supply and those who don’t, the State maps which citizens are of low social significance, poor economic background and weak political visibility.  Across African space and time, such infrastructural violence has targeted women; the second-class citizens of society. Absent or broken supplies condition females to daily walks for water. This is particularly true for rural women, establishing a rural-urban divide that demonstrates the
5 comments
Read more

Where there’s a well, there’s a way. But that way might take 30+ minutes…

-
Image
The title of this week’s blog leads me to the debate of accessibility Vs availability. In 1984, the song ‘Do they know it’s Christmas?’ was recorded by Band Aid, later sung at Live Aid in 1985, in attempt to raise money for famine relief in Africa. The concert raked in $127 million and remains an acclaimed moment in musical history. In 2019, ‘Do they know it’s Christmas?’ was voted the UK’s 8th favourite Christmas song of all time.  Source:  https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/midgeure/dotheyknowitschristmas.html The lyrics should be scrutinised for a number of reasons. Firstly - following on from my opening blog - the representation of Africa is premised upon eurocentrism. This is particularly alarming considering that the song remains a national favourite, suggesting that Britain has done little to disengage from colonial beliefs. Further, Band Aid epitomises the white saviour complex of the West ; sustaining the binary distinction between 'us' and 'them' that was establ
4 comments
Read more