Gender and water security in Burkina Faso: lessons for adaptation

This policy brief analyzes how gender roles and cultural norms in Burkina Faso's Nouaho sub-basin create differentiated water security risks, particularly as climate change intensifies hazards like droughts and floods. Findings show that while women bear the primary burden of water collection and face higher health risks from poor sanitation, they are largely excluded from community decision-making and leadership roles in water associations. The document recommends that WASH interventions move beyond infrastructure to address gender disempowerment and use inclusive indicators to track progress toward universal water access.

• Residents of the Nouaho sub-basin face water-related hazards including flooding, poor sanitation, and inadequate water quantities, all of which are worsened by climate change.
• Gender roles and cultural norms create differentiated risks regarding water accessibility, quality, affordability, and availability. For example, 92% of respondents identified adult women as the principal collectors of water for household use, and 23% identified girls under 15, making these groups most impacted by dry season accessibility challenges.
• Women's exposure to contaminated water is increased by cultural norms that assign them domestic and cleaning roles, particularly as 10% of respondents use unprotected wells for drinking and domestic purposes. Additionally, 66% of respondents reported high levels of open defecation, which increases health risks for women and girls, such as urogenital infections due to inadequate menstrual hygiene.
• Water affordability is often determined by intra-household negotiations. While 59% of respondents view men as responsible for paying household costs due to social norms, religious obligations, or women's lack of income, 21% stated women have a larger responsibility for payment, often because men have migrated or lack funds.
• Long-term adaptation is hindered by gender discrimination in decision-making. Women are rarely involved in community water association leadership roles and are perceived as having a limited ability to communicate with decision-makers. Furthermore, 75% of men and 73% of women reported their households have limited or no influence over local authority decisions regarding water problems.
• Women's engagement in off-farm income-generating activities (reported by 49% of respondents, compared to 27% for men) provides assets and flexibility to adapt during environmental shocks like poor harvests, though they still rely on the same limited water sources for these activities.
• Information dissemination for adaptation planning can utilize radio, as 67% of men and 56% of women listen at least once a week. However, learning interventions must account for the fact that women have lower education attainment and listen to the radio less frequently than men.

APA

Dickin, S. (2018). Gender and water security in Burkina Faso: lessons for adaptation. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/gender-and-water-security-in-burkina-faso.pdf

Chicago

Dickin, Sarah. Gender and water security in Burkina Faso: lessons for adaptation. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2018. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/gender-and-water-security-in-burkina-faso.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dickin |first1=Sarah |title=Gender and water security in Burkina Faso: lessons for adaptation |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=August 2018 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/gender-and-water-security-in-burkina-faso.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dickin2018gender, author = {Dickin, Sarah}, title = {{Gender and water security in Burkina Faso: lessons for adaptation}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2018}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/gender-and-water-security-in-burkina-faso.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }