Water supply key to gender equality in developing world: experts

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2005

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Men and women are not equal faced with the water scarcity afflicting most of the planet, and easier access to clean water is a key factor for gender equality, experts said at the Stockholm Water Week.

Like the Indian girl in Disney's Jungle Book movie who "must go and fetch the water 'till the day that I am grown", hundreds of millions of girls and women walk long distances for hours every day to provide their families with water, leaving little time for anything else.

"Carrying water is their role. Young girls will carry water for long distances," said Vanessa Tobin, head of UNICEF's water, environment and sanitation section.

"In a country like Niger, it's up to four or five hours a day. That workload then often means that they drop out of...