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FACTS ABOUT WOMEN AND WATER

Women are the world's principal food producers and providers and are assuming an increasing role in agriculture, partly because of the rural-to-urban migration of men.

Women and female children spend more than 10 million person - years carrying water from distant sources every year.

Medical research has documented cases of permanent damage to women's health attributed to carrying water. Problems range from chronic fatigue, spinal and pelvic deformities, to effects on reproductive health such as spontaneous abortions. In some parts of Africa, where women expend as much as 85% of their daily energy intake fetching water, the incidence of anaemia and other health problems are very high (SIDA, 1997).

In some regions, women spend up to 5 hours a day collecting fuel wood and water and up to 4 hours preparing food.

In Africa, 90% of the work of gathering water and wood, for the household and for food preparation, is done by women.

In the Brazilian northeast, during times of drought, most men migrate for wage employment and women become the heads of the household. These women are known as widows of the drought.

Source: UNESCO Water Portal, 2004