The month of March is a very important month in the South African and global calendar as it puts the spotlight on the source of life – water. March is National Water Month in South Africa, which is an expansion of the World Water Day which is observed annually on 22 March and focuses its attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

World Water Day is spearheaded by the United Nations (UN) and aims to ensure that everyone in the world has access to safe water by 2030, while not impacting negatively on the environment.The theme for this year’s National Water Month, which is taken from the World Water Day theme “Water and gender”, with the slogan “Where Water Flows, Equality Grows”, is more relevant to the South African situation where the fight for gender equality continues. The theme is about empowering women and girls and calls for putting them at the centre in water solutions, ensuring their voices, and leadership are fully recognized in water decision-making.

Lack of access to reliable water supply is a major challenge to gender equality in the country. The lack of reliable water supply disadvantages a lot of women in the country, especially in rural areas.In most communities, women bear the responsibility of fetching water for their households. Women and girls spend hours collecting water, which limits their time for education, work, and family care. This has a negative effect on women, especially the girl child as they end up missing classes in search of water, leading to others eventually dropping out of school.

This has a negative impact as it leaves them behind in relation to their male counterparts. Safe water access reduces these burdens and improves health, safety, and opportunities.Lack of water also impacts women negatively as it affects their personal hygiene. Without water, women lose their confidence and dignity as they cannot meet their hygiene needs. Lack of water diminishes the dignity of women and also exposes them to criminals.All in all, women bear the brunt of lack of access to water and this diminishes their chances of equally competing with their male counterparts thereby prolonging gender inequality in society.

It is high time that we all come together and play our role in ensuring women have equal opportunities and realize gender equality in our communities by ensuring access to water for all. When women and girls have equal voice and leadership in water decisions, services become more inclusive, sustainable and effective – making water a force for a healthier, more prosperous, gender-equal future that will benefit us all.

As we celebrate the National Water Month, let us not forget that South Africa is a water scarce country, receiving around half of the global average annual rainfall, distributed unevenly across the country. This water scarcity is exacerbated by an escalating demand due to economic and population growth, urbanisation and rising standards of living. In addition, the degradation of wetlands, changes in rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures driven by climate change, are contributing to the reduction of the security of water supply.

It is therefore important that we all become responsible water users and stop the unsustainable use and high levels of wastage and loss, as well as increasing pollution which renders water unfit for use. Reliable and sustainable water supply and water security is in our hands and responsible behaviour.