Module 2. Theorethical Concepts of Gender - FSN Network Portal

Mainstreaming Gender into Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Programs
Module 2: Theoretical Concepts of Gender
Lesson 8: Social Vulnerability and WASH
Procedures
1 Briefly share the objectives of the session on the flipchart presentation
with the participants.
2 Start the PowerPoint projector. As you go through this session, follow it
with the PowerPoint presentation.
3 Ask the group to discuss the reasons why poverty and water are linked.
Explore the relationships between poverty, water, ill health, education,
and economic resources.
4 Write up the example of how a lack of resources dictates the
place/quality of where a family defecates, which then has a large
impact on health. Ask why? Explain that households with private toilets
have measurably lower morbidity rates than households without them.
5 Tell the group that irrigation is the biggest user of the world’s water,
and is very important for food production. Poor people tend not to be
able to afford irrigation. It is not resource neutral. For example, in South
Africa only 5 percent of irrigated farms belong to black farmers. As a
result, black farmers usually have to rely on rainwater, which makes
them much more vulnerable.
6 Talk more broadly about the impacts of a lack of resources/access to
water.
7 Put up Table 1 in Handout 8.1, but without the third column filled in.
Ask the participants to fill in why they think that a lack of water,
sanitation and hygiene affects the four categories of health, education,
gender and social inclusion, and income/consumption.
8 When this is finished, pin up the VIPP cards with the full answers, as
shown in the handout.
9 Discuss how lack of access to water increases poor people’s costs of
living. It also increases their risk of ill health and disease. Tell the group
that a tap in a yard doubles the chance of a woman washing her hands
after taking a child to the toilet or washing soiled clothes.
10 Tell the group that Water Aid in Ethiopia found that households
recording a 10 percent increase in water supply for cleaning purposes
enjoyed a 1.3 percent decrease in diarrhoea. As we saw yesterday,
diarrhoea-related diseases can be a serious killer.
11 Ask the group if they have heard of any other studies with similar
findings.
12 Write up on the board the direct link, described as the ‘short cycle’:
excreta – hand – mouth).
13 Address the issue that not all marginalised groups have the same
relationship to water. For example, historically the Batwa have been
marginalised from both land and water, and systematically
discriminated against. Discuss these relationships.
14 Distribute Handout 8.1: A Direct Link: Water Relations and Poverty,
which explains the links between water and poverty.
Gender and Water Relations
15 Write the phrase, ‘bargaining power theories’ on the board. Ask people
what they understand about the different theories of gender bargaining
power. Explain that the household used to be understood as a unit of
A Training Manual for Water Professionals developed collaboratively by PROTOS and SNV, 01/02/2007
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