Gendered Water Insecurity: A Structural Equation Approach for Female Headed Households in South Africa

Abstract

Intricacies between women and water are central to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality and women empowerment is a key driver in ending hunger and poverty as well as improve water security the study sought to identify and provide pathways through which female-headed households were water insecure in South Africa. Secondary data collected during the 2016 General Household Survey (GHS) was utilised, with a sample of 5928 female-headed households. Principal Component Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling were used to analyse the data. The results show dynamic relationships between water characteristics and water treatment. There were also associations between water access and wealth status of the female-headed households. Association was also found between water access and water treatment as well as between wealth status and water treatment. The study concludes that there are dynamic relationships in water insecurity (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) for female-headed households in South Africa. The study recommends that a multi-prong approach is required in tackling exposures, sensitivities and adaptive capacities to water insecurity. This should include capacity–building and empowering women for wealth generation, improve access to water treatment equipment as well as prioritising improvement of infrastructure that brings piped and safe water to female-headed households.

Determinants of water security for rural households: Empirical evidence from Melani and Hamburg communities, Eastern Cape, South Africa

“…Te oordeel aan die uiteenlopende waterverwante kwessies in Suid-Afrika, is dit duidelik dat watersekuriteit 'n dringende maatreël is wat die regering moet aanspreek (Soyapi, 2017). Verskeie outeurs soos Ngarava et al (2019), Meissner et al (2018) en het studies gedoen oor watersekuriteit in Suid-Afrika, wat gemengde resultate op die vlak van watersekuriteit aandui.…”

“…Huishoudelike sosio-ekonomiese eienskappe het min aandag gekry in terme van watersekuriteit op huishoudelike vlak in Suid-Afrika (Sinyolo et al, 2014). 'n Klein aantal studies deur Ngarava et al (2019) en Sinyolo en Mudhara (2014), het probeer om op die sosio-ekonomiese aspekte van watersekuriteit in Suid-Afrika te fokus. Die meeste van hierdie studies was egter óf homogeen (Ngarava et al 2019), wat op die hele land as geheel gefokus het, óf ruimtelik anders gefokus op sekere gebiede, soos 'n studie deur Meissner et al (2018), wat na Sekhukhune en eThekwini Plaaslike Munisipaliteite gekyk het.…”

“…Min studies het probeer om hierdie roete te volg. Ngarava et al (2019) het 'n geslagsperspektief in ag geneem met die kyk na watersekuriteitsstatus van gesinne met vroulike hoofde in Suid-Afrika. Die studie het bevind dat huishoudings met vroulike hoofde dinamies is in hul blootstelling, sensitiwiteit en aanpassingsvermoë vir wateronsekerheid.…”

“…Vroue het toegang tot kapasiteitsbou en bemagtiging in n welvaartsgenerasie nodig. Dit behels noodwendig 'n verbetering in hulle watersekerheidstatus wat behaal kan word deur hulle toegang tot behandelde water te verbeter, en algemene infrastruktuur verbetering (Ngarava et al, 2019).…”

Water Poverty Assessment in Olorunsogo Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

“…Previous studies discovered that, among others, community social status influences access and management to clean water (Ngarava et al, 2019), investment growth can affect the expansion of settlements in coastal areas and have an impact on water quality degradation (Hoque et al, 2019), land use for agriculture is more optimal when carried out in rural areas with consideration of market access and better water availability (Harmanny & Malek, 2019), the majority of the poor finds it difficult to access clean water pipes due to cost issues (Carrard et al, 2019),increasing the ability of the community to manage water resources is needed to reduce social barriers in the use of clean water (Panthi et al, 2019). Meanwhile, this study found the role of access and capacity of the community in reducing the potential for lack of clean water.…”