Investigation into household water supply , sanitation and hygiene of a selected slum with gender perspective

Abstract

Lack of safe water and basic sanitation is an acute problem for the women and girls who live in poor and overcrowded urban slums in Bangladesh. Access to safe drinking water is a basic human right and essential for achieving gender equality, sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The study intends to identify the household water supply, sanitation and hygienic behavior in a selected urban slum. The study also highlights women contribution in household based water management. From the study it has been found that the water supply and hygienic condition of the study slum are worsening and people, especially women suffer the most due to lack of availability of water. Only 16% household used pipe water for their domestic purposes and remaining 84% used water from open reservoir. Their water storage behavior also unhygienic and 48% water storage pots remains uncovered in the study slum. Only 1% household used fitkiri as a disinfectant. They are habituated to take the contaminated water and suffer from various water-borne diseases including skin diseases, diarrhea, and year round abdominal pains. Moreover, 22% people of the slum area use open latrine besides lake. In addition to this, only 30% respondent use soap after toilet for hand washing and 48% use only water for hand washing. Remaining 22% does not use anything for hand washing. This is in part due to limited awareness or ignorance of the health hazard related to use of unsafe water for household purposes and unhygienic sanitation practices. Although women in Korail slum play a strong role in community mobilization in safe water and hygiene promotion; men, especially the elite and influential people have voice and decision making for water management and operation in this area. Moreover, women are not as widely consulted and women’s priorities and requirements are not given as much attention due to different power relations between women and men. Although women have the opportunity to earn money, they do not have control over their resources. Moreover, they often subject to violence in the study slum. Women’s control over resources is limited because of societal values and practices determining men as the guardians of property, the heads of the household and the decision makers in the public sphere.