Anshu Gupta

Women carrying containers to fill water for their households in the aftermath of the 2013 Odisha cyclone.

Odisha was hit by the twin calamity of Cyclone Phailin and the subsequent floods on October 12, 2013 which affected over 1.2 crore individuals in the state. In the Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts, the flood water of the Budha Balanga and Baitarani rivers devastated homes and submerged thousands of acres of standing paddy crops. Accessibility to clean drinking water was also hit and people had to stand in long queues just to fetch a bucket of water*.

For some women It’s a norm, not just limited to disaster - women fetching water for their households everyday. It marks the start of their day, consumes a lot of time and everything in the day is dependent on this. Every other activity of the household from cooking to cleaning is dependent on this water, a lot of which is also the responsibility of the women in majority houses. Did we ever question, why so? Or did we just abide by the norm?

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Women carrying containers to fill water for their households in the aftermath of the 2013 Odisha cyclone.

Odisha was hit by the twin calamity of Cyclone Phailin and the subsequent floods on October 12, 2013 which affected over 1.2 crore individuals in the state. In the Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts, the flood water of the Budha Balanga and Baitarani rivers devastated homes and submerged thousands of acres of standing paddy crops. Accessibility to clean drinking water was also hit and people had to stand in long queues just to fetch a bucket of water*.

For some women It’s a norm, not just limited to disaster - women fetching water for their households everyday. It marks the start of their day, consumes a lot of time and everything in the day is dependent on this. Every other activity of the household from cooking to cleaning is dependent on this water, a lot of which is also the responsibility of the women in majority houses. Did we ever question, why so? Or did we just abide by the norm?

Read more