Water scarcity forcing rural Kenyan women to devise coping mechanisms

“Fetching water is normally a woman’s responsibility. This can be a dangerous, time-consuming and physically demanding task. Long distance by foot, often more than once a day, can leave women vulnerable to attack and often exclude them from earning an income.”

Approximately 72% of Kenya’s 55 million people live in rural areas (World Bank, 2022a), and primarily depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. In Kilifi County, particularly Bomani and Kidzini North sub-counties, the land tenure system is complex. While women have a predominant role in subsistence agriculture due to the out-migration of men to urban areas, only five percent of the land is registered to women (NEMA, 2010). With increased urbanization and land sales, land parcels are shrinking, and farmers are increasingly pushed onto more marginal lands.