Many people don’t realize that water in the developing world is a women’s issue. Why do I mean by that? Women and girls are responsible for getting water for their families. They spend much of their waking hours walking miles to get water–water that can be deadly. Young women who have heard me talk about life in Niger say, “Why do they accept that?” “Why don’t they make the men do more?” These are questions that are not surprising, coming from activist, equal rights women who see injustice and want to right it. They find it hard to accept the fact that this is the tradition of these Muslim women, generations of women who don’t question their roles.
