Water, electricity outages in Taiz make lives of women unbearable

The ongoing water and electricity outages make the lives of women living in Yemen’s Taiz city unbearable, doubling the burden borne by women.

HALA AL-HAŞİDİ

 Yemen- The continuous electricity and water outages in Taiz, a city in southwestern Yemen negatively affect women doing household chores such as cooking, dishwashing and laundering.

‘We make more effort and spend more time’

Due to the water and electricity outages in the city, Hoda Saleh has to bear much more burden. “We make more effort and spend more time doing household chores due to the water outages. This situation affects both our physical and mental health. Especially pregnant women face more difficulties,” she told NuJINHA.

 She also underlined that they have no access to health services, food and medications. “This situation doubles our burden.”

‘Women are affected more’

 Amal Muhammad Kony thinks women are affected more than men from the continuous electricity and water outages in the city. “Because they face difficulties in cooking, dishwashing and laundering. Gender inequality affects women. We just struggle to survive.”

Alaa Al-Salahi, a young activist in Taiz, spoke about the effects of the Yemeni civil war on women. “The civil war has displaced many women. Young women and students are also affected by the ongoing electricity and water outages. Women and girls make great efforts to meet their families’ need for water.”