Women's Rights on World Water Day

1.2 billion people have no access to clean water and sanitation. Women suffer disproportionately from lack of access to clean water.

Studies show that poor rural women in many developing countries may spend up to eight hours a day collecting water, carrying up to 20 kilos of water on their heads each journey. Every day 6,000 girls and boys die from diseases linked to unsafe water, inadequate health and poor hygiene. Women are the main caretakers for sick children and adults.

But solutions are possible. Women have formed neighbourhood cooperatives to administer local water pumps and provide hygiene education. They have joined together to make sure that water flows where it should. And they have combined their voices to campaign against unaffordable water prices.

Women understand that access to water is fundamental to the realization of a range of human rights.

On this International Water Day, the Elders join with others in reminding the world of the Millennium Development Goal in which government leaders committed to reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. We must all do our part to meet that basic goal. Time is running out.

You can read more about water as a human right in an article by Mary Robinson entitled "The Right to Water for All - a Utopia within our Reach"

Celebrate World Water Day by taking action with one of the partners in the Every Human Has Rights Campaign, UNICEF, which provides access to safe water and sanitation facilities while promoting safe hygiene practices in more than 90 countries.

Get involved with The Tap Project