Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)

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Browsing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs) by SDG "SDG-5: Gender equality"

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    Gender-based inequalities in access to water and sanitation in South Africa: Case study of two informal settlements
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Ntwana, Bukiwe; Wafer, A
    This study is concerned with understanding the specific configurations of the institutional and infrastructural arrangements in two informal settlements that exacerbate or mitigate women's access to water and sanitation services. The study draws on a comparative case study design with some elements of ethnographic design in two informal settlements based in Cape Town and Johannesburg as case studies. The QQ Section informal settlement is situated in Cape Town, Khayelitsha. The settlement is dense, it is located on state-owned land with servitudes and it falls under the City of Cape Town municipality (CoCT) which is governed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and it falls within Ward 89, which is an African National Congress (ANC) led Ward. The second settlement is the Marlboro South informal settlement, which is situated in Johannesburg, Marlboro. The settlement is located in an industrial area with shacks situated inside and outside around abandoned private-owned warehouses. Marlboro South falls under the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), which was governed by the DA from 2016 to 2019 when the fieldwork of this study was conducted. Furthermore, Marlboro South is divided into two wards, Ward 108 is ANC-led and Ward 109 is DA-led. Both settlements further adhere to other formal and informal institutions of power such as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and community leadership institutions. All these factors have shaped water and sanitation services, which further affect women’s access to these services in both settlements. The study reveals that the effects of the institutional and infrastructural arrangements on water and sanitation result in women experiencing unsafe access, health and hygiene challenges, maintenance challenges of water and sanitation facilities, gender-based discrimination at the household and community levels and the marginalisation of women resulting from not having private connections to water and sanitation infrastructure in the two case studies. This study uses the qualitative research approach, the data was collected using in-depth household interviews, focus group discussions and key informant interviews in both settlements. The sampling method used in this study was purposive sampling with women as the study respondents in the two informal settlements