Water crisis most acute for women

International workshop debates gender issues in water management

Mysore/Mysuru: An international workshop on ‘Gender Issues in Water Management in Developing Countries and Sustainable Development’ began at JSS Medical College here this morning.

The workshop is being organised by JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (JSS AHER), in association with Centre for Science and Technology of Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre) and Scientific Committee on Problems of Environment (SCOPE), Amstelveen, The Netherlands.

Though a major part of the programme is being held in virtual mode where the likes of Dr. Catherine Anne Brown, Director and Senior Consultant, Southern Waters Ecological Research and Consulting, Cape Town, South Africa is addressing, the physical event was inaugurated at the board room of JSS Medical College.

Dr. Amitava Bandopadhyay, Director General, NAM S&T Centre, inaugurated the event in the presence of Dr. C.G. Betsurmath, Executive Secretary, JSS Mahavidyapeetha, Dr. B. Suresh, Pro-Chancellor of JSS AHER, Dr. Surinder Singh, Vice- Chancellor and Dr. B. Manjunatha, Registrar.

In his remarks, Dr. Suresh said that girls and women have the primary responsibility of fetching water for families without running water. They lug heavy containers over rough terrain and are often at risk of attack and vulnerable to health issues.

“Women must travel longer to find new sources of water, and this affects their lives daily. Their domestic uses include cooking and cleaning, where uncontaminated water is a necessity. In addition, raising children requires nourishing and sanitary water. I hope that this workshop will provide solutions to the issues faced by women and pave way for women-friendly water policies,” Dr. Suresh said.

The two-day workshop is aimed at gaining experience on gender and social equity approaches to water management as well as actively assisting development of local knowledge and resources to facilitate dissemination of knowledge and information, said Dr. Betsurmath.

More than 40 experts and 200 participants from about 50 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries working in the area of water science, related eco-system and services and socio-economic sectors as well as members of planning and policy groups working towards gender equity are attending the workshop.

Other speakers include Prof. David Jenkins, University of Plymouth, UK, Prof. Nnenesi Kgabi from the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, South Africa and Prof. V. Subramaniam, former JNU Professor.