Background

Access to safe and reliable water, one of the most unevenly distributed resources in the world, bears a disproportionate burden on women and girls. This is often framed as just an issue of infrastructure, but it is very much a question of time, labor, and social inequality. If we look at it globally, an estimated 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services.  In situations such as these, water isn’t simply unavailable; it is also distant, inconsistently supplied, or socially mediated through systems that require a lot of time to access. 

Within households, the responsibility of securing water is usually very gendered. It is often women and girls who are expected to collect the water. This role very much shapes their daily routines and opportunities. According to global data, women and girls spend around 200 million hours every day collecting water worldwide.  It is important to understand that the time they lose directly limits their access to education, paid work, and rest. This further reinforces the cycles of economic and social disadvantage. In many parts of India, especially rural areas, this labor is doubled by the long distances they must walk and the physical strain of transporting water. 

Despite the scale of this issue, it is rarely discussed in terms of its effects on these women’s lives. It is often addressed only through large-scale policy frameworks or infrastructural targets, while completely overlooking the people who must navigate these systems on a daily basis. As a result, the problem doesn’t just limit itself to the provision of water but also to how access is shaped. It pushes us to question who ultimately bears the costs of these structural failures and how those costs remain normalized in our society.