An Exploratory Study on Water Scarcity and Coping Mechanisms Among Women Households with Special Reference to Chidothe Village in Zomba, Malawi

Accessing clean and pure water is a crisis for women and families all over the world. Without the proper resources to receive water can lead to the fatality of women and their families. This paper explores water scarcity and household coping mechanisms to water scarcity with special reference to women households in Chidothe village. It identifies the sources of water in Chidothe village, understands the challenges faced by women in fetching water and explores household coping mechanisms to water scarcity with the purpose of raising awareness to the community’s situation. Although the water supply system was expanded in 2001, many areas including Chidothe village are still experiencing water problems. In the past years’ researchers and policy makers have focused on improving the performance of water utility infrastructure in order to eliminate this threat. However, little efforts have been made to understand social issues to water shortage and how people respond to them. Data gathering methods were individual interviews and focus group discussions. All interviews were audio recorded. The data was processed manually and analyzed thematically. The results were analyzed through insights and arguments from Feminist Political Ecology (FPE). The study reveals that women and girls in Chidothe Village have a greater responsibility to fetch water, are facing challenges to access portable water such as lack of money to connect to tap water, the absence of water kiosks in the village further worsens the problem and circumstances force them to draw water from unsafe sources, hence, exposing themselves to diseases. The results imply that there is an urgent need to address water supply systems in order to prevent people from water borne diseases. The study concludes that there is need to incorporate women in decision making to articulate their concerns and interests at local level and also water aid stakeholders should use gender sensitive approaches when planning, designing and implementing water projects.