Sometimes it Takes a Woman

by Christine Eusebio



Singer James Brown famously sang that this is a man's world. But it would be nothing without a woman or a girl.

She is your neighbor. She is the cashier at the local grocery store, or the CEO of a major corporation. She might be a family member serving in the armed forces.

There has never been a better time to be a woman.

Women bear our children and provide the tender touch of a mother. They laugh, cry, and most aren't afraid to express their emotions. They are nurturers and world leaders. They can raise children and have a career. And sometimes, it takes a woman to move mountains and bring about change.

{photos by Gil Garcetti}

As president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has shown exactly what women are capable of. She has raised four children and risen to the highest position in her country. Sirleaf’s story is an inspiring one, but it not a common one. The lack of safe water in Liberia and throughout the continent means that most women do not have the opportunities that she has had. Women in Africa spend 40 billion hours a year walking for water, and as a result, education and advancement are near impossibilities. In a speech earlier this year, Sirleaf demonstrated that she has not lost sight of this fact as she reaffirmed her commitment to finding solutions for water and sanitation issues in West Africa.

{President SIrleaf - source: Wikipedia Commons}

According to Ghana Business News, President Sirleaf stated that many believe that development must occur before adequate sanitation can be implanted, but in reality, improved sanitation is a driver of economic development. This is only logical. When the most basic needs are unmet, there is no time, no physical or mental energy, available for anything else.

While it’s true that women around the world have more opportunities than at any other time in history – Sirleaf is a prime example of this, it’s also trues that for many, there has never been a worse time to be a woman.

Many of the women of West Africa are handicapped when it comes to obtaining adequate health, especially with the concern for fresh, clean water. Everyday, women and girls walk miles upon miles to fetch water to bring back to their villages. This in turn interferes with girls’ chances of going to school to receive a decent education, which begins a vicious cycle that cannot be broken unless proper access to clean water is provided.

{photo by Gil Garcetti}

Women across sub-Saharan Africa suffer from inadequate access to safe water. In addition to the personal struggles this creates, their children often suffer from life-threatening bouts of diarrhea and many are malnourished. President Sirleaf summed up the problem when she spoke before at a summit on international poverty reduction, "Without more progress in providing access to safe water and effective sanitation, children will continue to miss school, health costs will continue to be a drag on national economies, adults will continue to miss work, and women and girls, and it’s almost always women and girls, will continue to spend hours every day fetching water, typically from dirty sources."

 Sirleaf, despite her position of prominence and power, is well aware that a lack of safe water is the primary barrier faced by women in her nation and throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and she is committed to progress. Sometimes, it takes a woman.