b'SDG Image caption goes hereEnsure access to water andwait in line for over one hour. Survey data for sanitation for all25 Sub-Saharan countries indicate that women spend a total of 16 million hours a day collecting water - 16 million hours which cannot be spent on other activities, such as education or income Thriving economies, secure and stablegeneration. communities, healthy populations; water is a human right and a valuable resource,Moreover, six out of ten people do not have interlinking with almost all of the seventeenaccess to safely managed sanitation services SDGs.and one in nine practice open defecation. Women and girls across the world living The Synthesis Report 2018, a review of progresswithout toilets spend 266 million hours every made towards achieving SDG 6, concludedday seeking a safe place to relieve themselves. that the world was not on track, with billionsEvery ninety seconds, a child dies from a water-lacking access to safe water, sanitation, andrelated disease.handwashing facilities. Due to a combination of population growth, socio-and economicSubstantial inequalities exist between slum development, changing consumption patterns,and non-slum households in regard to access intensified agricultural production, climateto water and sanitation facilities. The wealthier change, and extreme stressors, including theoften enjoy high-levels of service at low cost, COVID-19, the use and demand for water iswhilst those less wealthy, pay a much higher rapidly increasing worldwide. Already over 2price for a service of similar, or lesser quality.billion people live in countries experiencingIn agriculture, water infrastructure in rural high water stress, whilst around 4 billionareas remains scarce, and yet, smallholder suffer severe water scarcity during at leastfamily farmers constitute the backbone of one month of the year, with 3 out of 10 peoplenational food supplies, contributing more than globally without access to safe drinking water.half of the agricultural production in many Furthermore, almost half of those drinkingcountries. More than 80% of all farms globally water from unprotected sources, live in Sub- are considered family farms (those smaller Saharan Africa.than 2 hectares), and the majority of the work In Africa and Asia, women and children walk anis conducted by women; their contribution average of 3.7 miles per day to collect water. Foroften unrecognised. Approximately 80% of many rural women, water sources are distant,the global cropland is rainfed, and 60% of and women often have to walk for up to twothe worlds food is produced on rainfed land. hours. In urban areas, and when water is fromHowever, supplementing irrigation into rainfed shared water facilities, women may have toagricultural systems can double or even triple rainfed yields per hectare for crops such as wheat, sorghum and maize. soroptimistinternational.org 11'