PARIS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Despite decades of progress, inequalities continue to compromise global water security, disproportionally impacting women and girls, according to a United Nations World Water Development Report.
A press released issued Thursday by UNESCO said this year's report, "Water for All People: Equal Rights and Opportunities," warns that globally, women and girls spend a total of 250 million hours every day collecting water, time that could otherwise be spent on education, leisure, or income-generating activities.
Poor sanitation facilities disproportionately affect women and girls, especially in urban slums and rural areas. Lack of toilets and water for menstrual hygiene leads to shame and absenteeism.
Women remain under-represented in water management and governance, available data from 64 utilities in 28 low- and middle-income countries indicated that fewer than one in five water workers were women, and they were paid less than their male counterparts, said UNESCO, who published the report on behalf of the UN-Water.
Climate change, water scarcity and hydro-meteorological disasters are exacerbating existing gender inequalities, particularly in water-stressed and disaster-prone contexts, the report also said.
To bridge the gender gaps in water access and leadership, the report calls for measures such as removing legal, institutional and financial barriers to women's equal rights to water, land and services, investing in sex disaggregated water data to expose inequalities and guide policy, and strengthening women's leadership and technical capacity, particularly in scientific and technical fields of water governance. ■
