Whilst the role of fetching water for drinking and cooking purposes is generally viewed as a feminine role attributed to women and girls, Matabeleland South men have broken the trend and stood out as the most involved men participating in fetching domestic water.
According to the 2020 ZIMVAC Report, nationally, in 80% of the households, cooking and drinking water is fetched by adult women and adult men only collect water in 15% of the households. However, Matabeleland South adult men have broken the jinx as the report shows that the province has the highest proportion of households where men fetch cooking and drinking water – 28%.
The report further attributes this to the fact that the province has the highest proportion of households fetching water in more than the recommended 500m distance from the household. can be attributed to Matabeleland South having the highest proportion of households that travel a distance of over 1km to collect water, 33%. The Sphere Standards recommend that the maximum distance from any shelter to the nearest water point should be 500m. However, nationally, 51% of Zimbabwe households travel over 500m to the nearest water point with 20% travelling more than 1km. Matabeleland South also stands out at having the highest proportion of households traveling over 500m to the nearest water point, with 67% of the households travelling over 500m from their dwellings to the nearest water point.
(Shared by Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights ©MIHR)
MATABELELAND INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 
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