Analysis in this study further reveals that women in eMdubezweni were positioned at the centre of the struggle for access to safely managed water. For example, in their households, the women participants lamented how they were primarily responsible for ensuring that their homes had water each day. This involved making sure that water containers were constantly available and ready for water collection, and that the water was stored appropriately for household use. In
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one FGD with the women participants, Ntombifuthi, cited below, spoke about the water-related responsibilities that were apportioned to her:
I, as the youngest female at home, am mostly responsible for water collection. I make sure that the empty water containers and buckets are by the doorway or outside next to the house so that when the water truck comes, we quickly run to collect from the water tank and if we are lucky, collect from the truck. But it's my responsibility to make sure that the storage facilities are ready (Ntombifuthi, female, 24 years, 16 October 2019).
In the same FGD, another participant, 18-year-old Nokulunga, shared similar experiences:
It's also the same with me. I am the youngest [at home]; although there is only a two- year gap between my brother and me, we were treated like twins when we were younger.
Still, when it comes to water collection or doing anything around the house, I'm always leading. I'm not sure whether it's a laziness thing on his (brother's) side or it's because I'm younger; therefore, most household responsibilities fall on me (Nokulunga, female, 18 years old, 16 October 2019).
It is noteworthy that only women in this study spoke so strongly about their responsibilities around collecting and using water in this water-insecure community. These findings suggest that water collection, storing, and usage were gendered and primarily framed as a feminine role that only women could do. From a gender socialisation perspective, these findings confirm that women in resource-poor rural communities often take on the role of unpaid household work that requires water (Awang, 2019; Das, Pradhan & Nonhebel, 2019). As Thobejane and Florence’s (2018) research demonstrates, women, more than men, conduct a disproportionately higher household domestic work share. According to Thobejane and Florence (2018), men often see household work, including water acquisition for their families, as a challenge to their authority and masculinity. Thus, through their gendered socialisation, men often opt for roles perceived as ‘appropriate’ for their gender identities. In other words, these roles are socially sanctioned and culturally permissive. Therefore, as the tenets of the gender socialisation framework maintain, my study illustrates the social inequalities that exist and are reinforced in rural communities with limited access to safely managed water. Expectedly, these unequal social behaviours manifest through gender inequalities, where women carry the burden associated with limited access to water. Other scholarly work has found similar trends. For example, Jeil, Abass, and Ganle (2020) found that it is often young women’s responsibility to secure enough water for their households in impoverished rural areas.
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Analysis in this study also revealed that women experienced a sense of frustration and hurt about this gendered trend in both their households and the community. As I continued to probe the women who participated in this study, it was revealed that they felt exploited, overwhelmed, dissatisfied, and reduced to providing service for the men in their households. In one FGD, three women shared their sense of frustration:
Personally, it hurts me because he doesn't go to the tank and collect the water himself, he'll use the one that I have collected for household and domestic duties. And when that water runs out, I have to be the one who goes to the tank and collects it. He doesn't even take the initiative (Nomzamo, female, 23 years, 9 October 2019).
You can't even boycott water collection because it'll be you as the woman who'll suffer the most from lack of access, but it is very frustrating that we always collect water, and the guys refuse. Sometimes I find myself understanding, and on some days, I just feel it is unfair (Lungile, female, 24 years, 9 October 2019).
It's very frustrating because we all use the water at the end of the day, and it's not like you collect the water with your breasts. Water is collected with your hands (Nomkhosi, female, 21 years, 9 October 2019).
These findings reveal the tension which exists in households because of limited water supply.
Furthermore, the finds reveal the women’s mental state as they navigate their days on limited water, and often gendered acquisition and use of this resource. Moreover, the findings suggest a sense of helplessness in engaging and negotiating for more equal roles and responsibilities with men at the household level. My analysis further points to how the men in eMdubezweni were less concerned about gender equality and the sharing of responsibilities (Mpalanyi Magala, 2015; Naiga, Penker & Hogl, 2015). As the participants cited above explained, men did not even try to take the initiative for collecting water and for using it for the benefit of others in their households. Therefore, these findings suggest that access to the already limited water in eMdubezweni was characterised by inequalities and is regulated by gender- differentiated roles and responsibilities, which are further influenced by culture (Van Aken &
De Donato, 2017).
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