By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
A Professor of Health and Development Geography at the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast (UCC), Professor Simon Mariwah is advocating for an end to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) violence against women.
According to him, most women became more suspectable of sexual abuse when WASH facilities were unfriendly, unsafe, unhygienic, and inaccessible due to biological, sociological, and sociocultural restrictions.
Professor Mariwah, during his presentation on a topic “Gender mainstreaming for inclusive WASH services delivery in Ghana” at the maiden forum of the Women in WASH (WinWASH) and launch of its network held in Accra, explained that girls and women, unlike their male counterparts, could not attend to nature’s call anywhere, especially when traveling along all the major routes in Ghana, thus the need to provide facilities at vantage points, including marketplaces, police checkpoints, etc., to make life relatively comfortable for them.
He explained that the situation of attending nature’s call while traveling in private or commercial transport worsened when the female/s is or are pregnant or menstruating.
Citing SDG 5.2, Professor Mariwah said authorities should seek to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private sphere.
He said though women represented half the world’s population according to UN Women (2018) and the Human Development Report’s (2022), there was almost nowhere in the world where girls and boys, women and girls were equal.
Professor Mariwah again cited reports by UNICEF, WaterAid and WSUP (2018), where it emerged that women and girls with disabilities faced double the disadvantages as existing toilets were designed and built in a way that they were not accessible and safe for them. This constitutes an abuse of their rights to access WASH facilities.
Quoting a UNICEF document from 2015, he said globally, 300 million girls and women menstruated daily; therefore, not having clean water and hygiene facilities would be a great challenge to them.
Supporting his appeal with these figures, Professor Mariwah explained that women and girls spent 200 million hours every day in search of water, which made them economically unproductive as they spent more hours only on the search and not featured on the labour market.
He called on the Government and other stakeholders to help achieve gender equality and equality with females in mind at the local and national levels concerning WASH.
Professor Mariwah said achieving gender mainstreaming was a collaborative effort, human right issue, a fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5, among others.
He encouraged the empowerment of women in dealing with WASH challenges, stressing that women should be given financial, logistical, and technical support in that regard.
Professor Mariwah also advised women against the use of emotion, confrontation to change the existing gender narrative and norms; rather, they should use dialogue to achieve their goals.
