One irony with the story of climate change is that women and girls are increasingly becoming more vulnerable to its impacts in comparison to their male counterparts.
This is because, women and girls are the primary gatherers of water, food, fuel and dominate subsistence farming, caregiving, and cleaning.
Malawi is no exception to this puzzle as the worsening climate crisis is making water a scarce commodity as rivers and streams dry-up of due to extreme hot weather conditions.
For instance, Chikwawa district in Malawi’s southern region and has a population of 350,000 people is traditionally hot with temperatures getting as high as 40 degrees Celsius which results to continuous drop of water in rivers and streams.
Also, boreholes in the district are losing capacity to provide water with 20 of the boreholes having dried up, leaving over 5,000 people who depended on them with no other option but to walk long distances in search of the commodity.
Women and girls who usually carry the task travel long distances of up to 4 kilometers every day to fetch water, however these journeys have become a burden to most women and girls who often times are exposed to sexual abuse.
Fynesss Gondwe, a 13 year old girl from Konzere Village in Chikwawa recalls the day she was raped as she travelled to a water source 1.5 kilometers away from her home.
“it was around 4:00 am when I started off to find water, I do this every morning before going to school because all nearby water sources have dried up, on my way I met a strange man, he asked me where I was going and offered to escort me, I said no, but he insisted, he later attacked me and raped me”. Gondwe said.
Also, narrating her ordeal is Mphatso Kachitsa, a mother of two who escaped the hands of two men who attempted to rape her on her way back to find water, 2 kilometers away from Konzere village.
“I am usually afraid because I start my journey very early, on this fateful day I was coming back from a stream 2 kilometers away from my village and I met two men who attacked me and tried to rape me, I was saved because I shouted and some villagers came to my rescue,” Kachitsa explained.
Meanwhile, a report by ActionAid, Kenya highlights how the increasing losses and damages caused by climate impacts are having devastating consequences on women and girls, including increasing their risk of sexual and domestic violence
According to Lucy Ntongal, Kenyan climate and gender expert from ActionAid says building resilience of women is crucial to lessening their burdens from impacts of climate change.
“The priority for mothers is water and because their husbands have left home looking for new pastures, they will take their daughters out of school to walk for miles to get water, this is putting them at risk of sexual violence” Ntongal said.
Meanwhile, the story is equally the same in Nsenga district, southern Malawi where extreme hot conditions are already causing persistent dry spells and reducing the water table in rivers and streams.
Chikondi Masamba, a 14 year old girl from Chazuka village says she is often late for school as she walks 1.4 kilometers to a nearby stream every morning to fetch water before attending school.
“I wake up around 4:00am to fetch water, however it takes longer to get the water from the borehole because the water pressure is low, this is disrupting my studies as I often report late for school,” Masamba said.
Another 15 year old girl, Madalisto Sipinu, says she was forced to get married against her will after she failed to perform well in school as she was finding it difficult to balance her chores and studies.
“I had to wake up early every morning to find water far away from home before reporting for school, this made my studies difficult to manage , I was often tired in class and I failed to do well in school, instead I was forced to marry”,Sipuni explained.
Meanwhile, Loveness Banda, a teacher at Makoka primary school in Nsanje explains the predicament at hand is forcing many girls drop out of school.
“It is disheartening to note that parents force their children to fetch water at far places before reporting for school, this is putting most girls at a disadvantage and they often drop out of school”, Banda said.
Meanwhile,stakeholders are optimistic that the introduction of the Water Adaptation and Resilience Initiative at the 2022 climate summit (COP 27) will go a long way in solving water challenges that have come as a result of the climate crisis.
According to UN Deputy Secretary, General, Amina Mohammed, the project is key to putting girls and women in the forefront of fighting the water crisis caused by climate change.
‘Women and girls are essential, effective and powerful leaders to address the climate crisis, But they remain largely undervalued and underestimated with limited access to training extension services and the technology necessary for effective adaptation to the impacts of climate change,” Mohammed said.
Just like Malawi, the story of Tanzania is the same where persistent droughts means a girl must walk further for water than her mother did years before and in Kenya, it is also reported that women walk up to 10 kilometers in search of water.
According to the United Nations, women in Sub-Saharan Africa spend 40 billion hours a year collecting water, hence the need to strengthen their involvement in climate response activities as means for building their resilience to climate impacts.