The burden of fetching water for women: a cross-sectional study in informal settlements of the Ouagadougou - Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Burkina Faso)

Madeleine Wayack Pambè, Université de Ouagadougou
Stéphanie Dos Santos, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) et Institut Superieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP)

In sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls spend 40 billion hours every year transporting water. This communication seeks to document the factors at the household level that could explain the fact that the person responsible for collecting water is a woman by comparing them to conditions in households where the person is a man. Modeling data from Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, multivariate logit analyses were used to assess the effect of different factors on the probability that the primary person responsible for fetching water is a woman. Preliminary results indicated that factors related to water access had a significant effect on the outcome. Future analysis will include a refined measure of household composition. Furthermore, original data on the use of time for women in charge of collecting water will be used to document the weight of the burden and possible constraints to develop other potentially emancipating activities.