Human rights reflect the fundamental nature of a person’s basic needs in life. One of the essential realizations of human rights is water. Water provides for our hydration, hygiene, sanitation, and many other needs. Communities can fulfill these basic needs when safe, sufficient, affordable, acceptable, and physically accessible water is guaranteed. Without clean water, many are susceptible to many issues concerning health, dignity, and prosperity. Water covers 70% of our planet; yet, many people still lack access to it. According to the United Nations, around 1.2 billion people - almost one-fifth of the world’s population - suffer from a water crisis. A water crisis applies to everyone in every continent. However, the people who mostly get the short end of the stick are women. For women, a water crisis is personal. In many parts of Africa and Asia, women carry the responsibility of looking out for this resource for their families to survive. When water is not available through their homes, women may face physically demanding work, mental pressure, gender inequality, discrimination, and loss of time to secure it. I intend to address the commonplace issues that many women encounter during a water crisis through my design project. With that in mind, I hope to raise awareness regarding these issues, make many people realize the privilege that we come to take for granted, and perhaps encourage people to turn concerns into action.
Water and Pregnancy
Without access to safe water, it is critical to many women's health. It significantly affects expectant mothers at a higher risk for injury or complications throughout their pregnancy. Most pregnant women are no exception to collecting water. Even in their condition, they still walk and carry heavy vessels to fetch water. In this design, a silhouette of a pregnant woman is placed on the handle of a water hand pump. The pregnant woman's shape is smaller than the pump to indicate how much water is a big priority in maintaining a healthy pregnancy to nourishing a child.
The Overflowing Burden of Water
The burden of collecting water disproportionately falls on women and girls. They are responsible for getting water - for drinking, cooking, sanitation, hygiene, and many more. In this design, two faces of a woman are placed on the side of a water vessel that is commonly used to carry water. It represents how it is usually women, in general, who would have to assume this responsibility. The vessel is overflowing with water as an analogy to women's overflowing burden with it.
The Continuous Wheel of Water
According to UNICEF, women spend 200 million hours every day collecting water. Try to think of how much women could have achieved in that time. When water is not available, women mostly pay for it with their time and lost opportunities. In this design, water vessels and women posing to how they carry these vessels are placed within the shape of a wheel. The notion of a wheel represents the loop/cycle that these women are in when collecting water. If nothing breaks this loop/cycle, women will continuously be deprived of the time for family, leisure, education, or a job.
To read more on why water crisis is a woman's crisis, click here.
