Giving Compass' Take:

• Leah Rodriguez, writing for Global Citizen, compiles a list of six women fighting for water access through advocacy work, community organizing, and social media campaigns. 

• How can donors get involved in breaking down barriers to water access? 

• Read about these WASH tools for donors. 

Women collectively spend 200 million hours per day finding and collecting water, which puts them at risk of sexual abuse, disease, and missing out on school.

Marginalized communities, including people with disabilities, refugees, and women, are often discriminated against the most while trying to secure the basic necessity. Pregnant women without water access are especially vulnerable — they can suffer infections and pass them on to their children.

Using social media or attending local advocacy events are just a couple of ways to educate each other on the world water crisis, a spokesperson at Water Mission, an organization implementing safe water solutions around the world, told Global Citizen.

If you want more ideas for how to take action, here are six women working on the crisis who you should know.

  1. Georgie Badiel Badiel launched the Georgie Badiel Foundation in 2015, which has made water accessible to over 100,000 people by building wells in local communities in Burkina Faso.
  2. Stella Bowles A school science project led Stella Bowles to test water samples from LaHave River in Nova Scotia, Canada, where she was always told she couldn’t swim, according to Green Matters.  Her efforts garnered national attention and prompted the government to announce a $15.7 million in funding to clean up the river.
  3. Autumn Peltier Autumn Peltier started educating the public on why many Indigenous people living in Canada lack access to clean water at a young age.
  4.  Ramona Kasavan Kasavan launched the sanitary pad and menstrual health education company Mimi in 2013 to empower girls.
  5. Varshini Prakash  While an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Prakash became involved in the climate movement.
  6. Mari Copeny Since meeting Obama, Caponey has donated more than 1,000 backpacks and school supplies to children in her city using the hashtag #PackYourBackChallenge.

Read the full article about six women fighting for water access by Leah Rodriguez at Global Citizen.