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Water insecurity in 3 dimensions: An anthropological perspective on water and women’s psychosocial distress in Ethiopia.

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Stevenson, Edward G.J., Greene, Leslie E., Maes, Kenneth C., Ambelu, Argaw, Tesfaye, Yihenew Alemu, Rheingans, Richard, Hadley, Craig·2012·Social Science & Medicine
DOI 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.022PMC PMC3394402
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Abstract

Water insecurity is a primary underlying determinant of global health disparities. While public health research on water insecurity has focused mainly on two dimensions, water access and adequacy, an anthropological perspective highlights the cultural or lifestyle dimension of water insecurity, and its implications for access/adequacy and for the phenomenology of water insecurity. Recent work in Bolivia has shown that scores on a water insecurity scale derived from ethnographic observations are associated with emotional distress. We extend this line of research by assessing the utility of a locally developed water insecurity scale, compared with standard measures of water access and adequacy, in predicting women's psychosocial distress in Ethiopia. In 2009-2010 we conducted two phases of research. Phase I was mainly qualitative and designed to identify locally relevant experiences of water insecurity, and Phase II used a quantitative survey to test the association between women's reported water insecurity and the Falk Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-F), a measure of psychosocial distress. In multiple regression models controlling for food insecurity and reported quantity of water used, women's water insecurity scores were significantly associated with psychosocial distress. Including controls for time required to collect water and whether water sources were protected did not further predict psychosocial distress. This approach highlights the social dimension of water insecurity, and may be useful for informing and evaluating interventions to improve water supplies.

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  • Women in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and India reported decision-making power over water collection and allocation, though some studies from India found men to make water collection decisions that did not account for women's priorities.

    “Women in Bangladesh, [110] Ethiopia, [108] and India [60] reported decisionmaking power over water collection and allocation, though some studies from India found men to make water collection decisions that did not account for women's priorities [101,119].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [108]

  • Inadequate water provision and collection behaviors were reported to influence intimate partner violence, including violence from husbands for not providing water for bathing, not having water in the home, going to cleaner water sources considered too far, not preparing food on time, or attending water-focused community meetings.

    “Inadequate water provision and collection behaviors were reported to influence intimate partner violence [26,75,101,108,111,153,165,179,198,231,260,264,266].Women reported violence from husbands if they did not provide water for bathing needs (Kenya, [198] Ethiopia, [108] Vietnam, [111] Cameroon [231]), did not have water in the home (East Africa [179]), went to cleaner water sources considered”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [108]

  • Fear and experiences of sexual violence were reported by women and girls who had to leave home for water and sanitation needs; women openly defecating were particularly vulnerable to non-partner sexual violence compared to those using latrines.

    “Fear and experiences of sexual violence were reported by women and girls who had to leave home for water and sanitation needs (_((((xxx))))_)[70, 76, 108, 123, 135, 143, 153, 171, 173-175, 177, 179, 181, 183, 184, 186-189, 191, 198, 214, 231, 233, 238-240, 255, 258, 259, 261, 265, 268-270] Research from India, [181, 268] Kenya, [269] and Nigeria [70] found women openly defecating were particularly”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [108]

  • Disputes with neighbors at water collection locations were widely reported.

    “Regarding inter-household relations, disputes with neighbors at water collection locations were widely reported [61,108,144,165,168,179,189,198,209,258].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [108]

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1 of the 43 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Borgatti SP 1998 Elicitation methods for cultural domain analysis Schensul J LeCompte M The ethnographer's toolkit 3 Walnut Creek, CA AltaMira Press
  2. Gleick PH Cooley H Morikawa M 2009 The World's Water 2008-2009 Island Press
  3. Hoben A Ph.D. Land Tenure Among the Amhara of Ethiopia University of Chicago Press
  4. Thesiger W 2007 [1954] Arabian sands Penguin Classics

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Authors
Stevenson, E. G. J., Greene, L. E., Maes, K. C., Ambelu, A., Tesfaye, Y. A., Rheingans, R., & Hadley, C.
Affiliations
  • Emory University (US)
  • Brown University (US)
  • Jimma University (ET)
  • Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia (ET)
  • University of Florida (US)
Corresponding author
Stevenson, Edward G.J.
ORCID
Venue
Social Science & Medicine
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2012-07
Volume
75
Issue
2
Pages
392-400
ISSN
0277-9536 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.022
PMC
PMC3394402
OpenAlex
W2165830999
Cited by
270
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
FWCI
5.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Social Science & Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Fogarty International Center (R24TW008825)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Resource Management and Quality
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Water Governance and Infrastructure
Keywords
water insecurity, water access, water adequacy, emotional distress, Ethiopia, water collection time, food insecurity
MeSH terms
Adult, Dehydration, Ethiopia, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Socioeconomic Factors, Stress, Psychological, Time Factors, Water Supply, Social Stigma

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