The impact of neo-liberalism on water and sanitation provision in the informal settlements: Towards the re-enforcement of gendered roles or democratic emancipation?

Abstract

abstract This Article examines the situation of poor women who perform reproductive and household labour necessary for survival and the implications of their daily struggle for survival regarding the provision of water and sanitation in the context of two informal settlements, Banana City in Durban and Endlovini in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Despite the democratisation of water and sanitation through policy, as both a human right and an essential basic need, the provision of access and basic services by the two urban municipalities to meet the needs of the informal settlements remains to say the least minimal, requiring negotiation and a struggle for recognition of tenure by residents. South Africa is a water-scarce society and the provision of basic services in informal settlements is not prioritised as it is an 'unfunded mandate' of the municipalities in which responsibility for functions of national government and provincial government, such as, free water and electricity and informal settlements upgrading have received no additional funding. It is argued that by adopting neo-liberal market policies, state priorities are shifted away from providing the basic necessities such as water and sanitation and the cost is borne unequally by poor women, many of who are unemployed, HIV positive and single heads of households. The Article considers issues pertaining to health and environmental risks within the continuous struggles women endure on a daily basis to sustain what is often a tenuous existence. The authors conclude that water and sanitation provision in South Africa is not gender neutral but gender biased, thus it becomes the basis for the re-enforcement of oppressive gendered roles as opposed to democratic gender emancipation.