Better Access to Water Raises Welfare, But Not Women’s Off-Farm Work

In the developing world, poor rural women and their children spend considerable time collecting water. Do women living in areas where more time is needed for water collection tend to participate less in income-earning, market-based activities? Do the education outcomes of their children tend to be worse? This note uses microdata for eight developing countries to examine these questions. Better access to water is not found to be associated with greater off-farm paid work for women, but is associated with less unpaid work. In countries where substantial gender gaps in schooling exist, enrollment for both boys and girls tends to be higher.