WaterAid Nigeria Calls for Accelerated Action on Gender Equality in WASH on International Women’s Day

Posted by
Zainab Mukhtar
on
7 March 2025
woman washing her hands under a running tap
Image: WaterAid/Olayide Daniel
Abuja, Nigeria | 8 March 2025 

 

As we commemorate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025, WaterAid Nigeria reaffirms its commitment to closing the gender gap in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Under this year’s theme, Accelerate Action, we are shining a light on the challenges women face in the sector—including the burden of unpaid work and limited leadership opportunities—while also celebrating the progress driven by women who are transforming WASH in their communities.

Women and girls bear the heaviest burden of WASH-related inequalities. According to the 2021 Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) survey, 69% of households in Nigeria rely on women and girls to fetch water, often from distant and unsafe sources, exposing them to health risks and threats to their safety (WASHNORM, 2021). This unpaid labour limits their ability to pursue education, economic opportunities, and leadership roles.

The urgency of action is clear: At the current rate of progress, full gender parity will not be achieved until 2158 (World Economic Forum, 2024). This prolonged gap demands that we move beyond advocacy to concrete investments in women’s leadership, capacity-building, and financial support for their contributions to WASH.

WaterAid Nigeria has been working to empower women in WASH by providing skills training, leadership opportunities, and community engagement initiatives. Women have been trained as mechanics to maintain WASH infrastructure, trained as members and leaders of water sanitation and hygiene committees (WASHCOMs) and as Volunteer Hygiene Promoters (VHPs) to drive hygiene education and behaviour change in their communities.

Evelyn Mere, Country Director of WaterAid Nigeria, said:

“If there is an area where action needs to be accelerated with a sense of urgency, it is in the WASH sector. In sub-Saharan Africa, the primary responsibility of water collection in nearly 80% of households lacking direct water access, falls mostly on women and girls. This deprives them of opportunities for education and livelihoods and threatens the achievement of multiple SDGs. We need to accelerate action to ensure increased access to safe WASH, to protect women’s rights to education, promote their dignity and enhance their ability to be more productive and contribute to national development.”

On this International Women’s Day, we call on governments at all levels, development partners, and the private sector to invest in inclusive in WASH systems to ensure that are not just beneficiaries, but leaders and decision-makers. The completion and approval of the National WASH and Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management Policies currently being developed will be a good place to start.

WaterAid Nigeria remains committed to working with partners to drive gender transformative WASH agenda and ensure that every woman and girl has access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. The time to act is now. 

/ENDS

For more information, please contact:  

Zainab Mukhtar- Communications Officer, WaterAid Nigeria

[email protected], +234 8141569826

Notes to Editors:

WaterAid is an international non-profit with one goal: to change the world through water. Along with decent toilets and good hygiene, a reliable supply of clean water is essential for health, dignity and a life full of opportunity.  Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 27 million people with clean water and 27 million people with decent toilets. 

For more information, visit www.wateraid.org, www.wateraid.org/nigeria; follow @WaterAidNigeria, @WaterAid or @WaterAidPress on Twitter, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid, 

* In Nigeria:

  • Only 10% of the population has access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services.
  • 68 million people (33% of the population) lack access to basic drinking water services.
  • 113 million people (55% of the population) lack decent toilets.
  • 48 million people (23% of the population) practice open defecation.
  • 171 million people (83% of the population) lack basic handwashing facilities.
  • Only 11% of schools have access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services.
  • Only 6% of healthcare facilities have access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services.
  • Only 4% of parks and markets have access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene services.

 

 2021 WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORM)
World Economic Forum. (2024). Global Gender Gap Report 2024. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2024 https://www.worldbank.org/en/data/interactive/2024/03/13/gendered-burden-of-water-collection-in-afe-afw-sub-saharan-africa#:~:text=This%20task%20falls%20mostly%20on,primary%20responsibility%20for%20water%20collection.

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