Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Global Social Welfare https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-023-00283-w Female Water Fetchers: Analyzing the Role of Women in Collecting Drinking Water in India Pritam Ghosh 1  · Sayantani Sarkar 2 Accepted: 16 March 2023 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 Abstract Background and Objective In 2011, nearly half of the households in India had not accessed drinking water sources in their household premises. In this context, the question arises: who is playing an important role (a male or female household member) in fetching drinking water in those households where the availability of drinking water is inadequate? Is there any gender difference in this practice? Against this backdrop, the study aims to outline the proportion of households from various sociodemographic, economic, and regional backgrounds where women are playing the main role of collecting water. The study also focuses on identifying the backgrounds determining the role of women as household water collectors in India. Methodology We used the 69th round of NSS (National Sample Survey 2012) data for this study. We employed the chi- square test to access the heterogeneity in the proportion of households where women are responsible for water collection among different sociodemographic, community-level, and regional backgrounds. Besides, we used a binary logistic regres- sion model to outline the impact of different backgrounds on women’s responsibility for collecting drinking water in India. Results The results showed women fetch drinking water in more than 80% of the households that did not have drinking water sources within their premises. We outlined the significant role of social groups, the education level of male household members, the principal occupation of the households, the distance to the drinking water sources, the household head’s gender, land ownership, and place of residence as the determinants of this responsibility of women in India. Conclusion We propose constructing the necessary infrastructure to ensure that everyone has access to safe drinking water. This will not only reduce the issues of the water crisis (SDG 06) and the enormous burden in Indian women (SDG 5). Keywords Drinking water · Water fetching · Women · India Introduction The availability and accessibility of safe water lie at the very core of human development. Water is indispensable for human survival, and access to safe drinking water is a crucial human right (UN-HRC, 2010). However, there exist wider inequalities across the globe (JMP, 2017). According to the WHO/UNICEF, 844 million people do not have basic drinking water facilities. It was reported that 263 million people had to spend at least 30 min for a round trip to get water from an improved source, and 159 million people got their drinking water from surface water sources (JMP, 2017). The women play the primary role in ensuring the availability and utilization of water at their homes for drinking as well as non-drinking purposes for their families. (Karim et al., 2012; Nounkeu & Dharod, 2021; Tsai et al., 2015; Workman & Ureksoy, 2017). The study examines the role of women in fetching water in Indian households. The study aims to determine the proportion of female water collectors among different socioeconomic, demographic, cultural, and regional backgrounds in India. Besides, the study also analyzes these determinants of female water fetching in India using the National Sample Survey (69th round 2012). The study will contribute to the global literature in three ways. First, the study will quantify the proportion of house- holds not having drinking water sources where women are playing the major role of household water collection. * Pritam Ghosh mr.ghosh.pritam@gmail.com Sayantani Sarkar sayantanis@goa.bits-pilani.ac.in 1 Department of Geography, Ramsaday College, Amta, Howrah 711401, West Bengal, India 2 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS- Pilani K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Goa, India