IMPACT OF DOMESTIC WATER PROVISION ON WOMEN IN THEIR EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT: A CASE OF IWO, NIGERIA

Abstract

The significance of female composition in ensuring water availability inAfrican homes cannot be overestimated as women are by tradition believed tobe solely responsible for it. Thus, women and their girls often travel out of theirplaces of abode to ensure the fulfillment of this responsibility. A study wasconducted to investigate on the implications of female gender responsibility forwater availability in African homes especially on their educational attainmentwith Iwo in Nigeria as a casestudy. The study employed the use of questionnairesurvey, interviews and focus groups to generate data for this purpose. Twohundred and fifty (250) households were randomly selected in the town for thepurpose of the survey out of which 239 (95.6%) wereretrieved. Both descriptiveand inferential statistics were used in the analysis. The results of the descriptiveanalysis revealed that 74.2% both female and male gender submitted to thebelief that women in African homes are responsible for the provisionof waterand that the search for water gulp appreciable women economic hours as 58.5%spent over 30 minutes to get water for home use. Also, the survey showed thatthe trouble of water fetching has untold hardship on the education attainmentsas appreciable economic hours are spent daily in search of water for home userather than attending to education matters. Factor Analysis extracted 9 factorswhich explained 72.36% of how water supply responsibility has contributed toeducational attainment of women.Household size (14.59%) and indecision onthe home chores (9.87%) are the two topmost factors. The results implied thateducational attainment of women is hindered partly due to water-associatedburdens and concerns. The study therefore recommends that relevantstakeholders in water management policies need to rise up to the challenge oftimely water accessibility and home connections to functioning pipe-borne waternetworks to minimize the hours spent in water fetching so that more time canbe available for education purpose.

 

Water security, Women, African home, Culture, Water accessibility, Nigeria