Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

Invest in infrastructure to reduce women’s and girls’ time burdens
67
Access to
electricity
dramatically
reduces the
time women
spend collecting
fuel or fetching
water
Heavier time burdens
In most rural communities around the world women are the primary collectors
of fuelwood. One study found that women spent more than 800 hours a
year in Zambia and about 300 hours a year in Ghana and Tanzania collecting
fuelwood (figure 5.1; Malmberg Calvo 1994).
Collection times have risen with the increasing scarcity of locally available
biofuels (Barnes and Sen 2003). Studies on firewood collection in India found
that women traveled between 4 and 10 kilometers in search of firewood, depending
on the ecological environment. In forested areas women might collect wood
twice a week, while in depleted areas they have to collect it every day.
Women also spend many hours fetching water. Rosen and Vincent (1999)
report that households (primarily women) spend an average of 134 minutes a
day collecting water. The study of three Sub-Saharan African countries cited
above found that women spent more than 700 hours a year on water provision
in Ghana, 500 hours in Tanzania, and 200 hours in Zambia (figure 5.2; Malmberg
Calvo 1994). They also collected a higher volume of water than men did.
Access to electricity dramatically reduces the time women spend collecting
fuel or fetching water. For instance, in India women in households with electricity
spend less time collecting fuels, fetching water, and cooking and more
time earning an income, reading, and watching television than do women
in households with no electricity (Barnes and Sen 2003; table 5.1 and figure
5.3). 1 By enabling women to spend more time reading, electricity may help to
address gender gaps in capability.
Women’s time burdens are also affected by inadequate transport systems
(Bryceson and Howe 1993). A World Bank study found that 87 percent of trips
in rural Africa take place on foot, and women’s time accounts for more than 65
percent of the household’s time and effort spent on transport (Malmberg Calvo
1996). The daily transport burden of a typical adult woman was equivalent to
Figure 5.1
Women are the
primary collectors
of fuelwood
Hours spent and volume
collected by sex in Ghana
(1989), Tanzania (1989),
and Zambia (1991)
Note: “Other” hours and
“Other” volume include
children’s collection of fuelwood
and various combinations
of men’s, women’s, and
children’s collection efforts.
Source: Malmberg Calvo 1994.