While India has made remarkable progress in expanding household access to water, the National Sample Survey 78th round multiple indicator survey (2020-21) suggests that over 41% of rural households lack access to safely managed drinking water within their households, and geographical disparities in household access to safe water, though declining, continue to persist. The distance to the principal source of drinking water for these households falls in the range of 0.2 to 1.5 km or more. India makes up 18% of the world’s population, with a share of water resources of less than 5%.
Evidence suggests that lack of access to water can cause considerable stress among households. In water-scarce areas or among households whose principal water source lies outside their household premises, water collection is typically perceived as a gendered activity, with the time burden of collecting water inevitably falling on women and girls of the household. Water insecurity affects women’s everyday lives, household dynamics, and social relationships. It also affects the school attendance and academic performance of girls. Women also face gender-based violence during the commute for water collection, which has an adverse impact on their mental health.
Research suggests that lack of access to adequate water leads to the practice of open defecation. This, in turn, has a multitude of effects on women. Apart from the health impacts like diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera, and impacts on menstrual health, women who practise open defecation also face psychosocial stress as well as a greater risk of non-partner sexual violence.
The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and the National Water Mission present an important shift in the policy for water management. The JJM enables access to drinking water through household tap connections. This reduces the drudgery of women and gives them more time for gainful activities. The programme seeks to measure this through increased participation of women in community engagement, including in gram panchayat and self-help group activities. To this end, the programme is designed to empower women by encouraging their involvement in Pani Samitis constituted for the purpose of planning, implementation, operations and maintenance, and monitoring of the programme at the village level. JJM guidelines also recommend that at least five women from every village are trained in periodic water quality monitoring. This serves the dual objective of empowering these women as well as ensuring the delivery of quality water to all rural households under this programme.
In a recent study conducted across rural areas in three districts in Tamil Nadu, we sought to examine these intended outcomes. We found that household access to safe drinking water enabled under the JJM reduces the time spent on collecting water from off-premises, leading to time gains among women, which they spent on better management of household tasks, children’s schooling, and childcare. Women who performed well on overall empowerment indicators also spent less time seeking water and showed a better mental health index. The study also showed positive correlations between water access and sanitation access.
Even as India continues its progress on access to water and sanitation, it is imperative that it continues to uphold a policy environment that mainstreams gender considerations in water access. Beyond reporting on progress in terms of water access or quality, it is also imperative that we measure progress against intended gender goals – be it in terms of reduction in the drop-out rates among school-going girls or reduction in drudgery among rural women and the extent to which this translates to improved socio-economic outcomes for these women.
Sujatha Srinivasan is Senior Research Fellow, LEAD at Krea University and Aparna Anand is Lecturer, Teachers College, Columbia University
