Hi All,
I am Shobana and I currently work at the SuSanA secretariat under the BMGF Grant. I am a WASH engineer who has worked in India, Tanzania, Uganda and Germany. During my last years, I have seen quite a few inspiring women in the sanitation sector. Cheers to us !

I would like to share a small experience through this thread.
Our team of local technicians were constructing open springs and new boreholes in the Northern part (Oyam district) of Uganda in 2016. An old woman walked upto to us and said that she is very happy to see women being a part of borehole construction.
Her exact words, ' In Uganda it is a woman's role to fetch water everyday. It is nice to see some women constructing wells for us. They understand of issues of walking several kilometres to fetch water as they have faced it themselves. They bring compassion along while they work.'

Best,
Shobana

Dear all,

I am enthusiast for innovation in the water sector. Over last 10 years I have been working on the assessment, revamping and development of new wastewater treatment technologies. I worked always on something "advanced", often forgetting how many people lack access to basic water and sanitation.
Since January, I have been working with Claudia at WECF on #women2030 project (www.women2030.org) and I learnt stories of people, and especially women, around the world that could have much better life, if they only had better WASH conditions. I am new in this topic and I have still to learn much, but I am happy to be a part of the team that advocates gender equality through WASH and promote a real advance!

I am happy to have joined the SuSanA Forum!

All the best,
Aleksandra Jelic

Hello!

Im Esther and I work at Oxfam, I am a sanitation specialist with a background in market based approaches to sanitation, business development and systems approaches to sanitation service delivery. I currently support the SuSanA platform with its work to help WASH programmes around the world in working towards SDG 6.

I have noticed in recent years how many more awesome women there are in the sector and the waves being made by some brilliant people all around the world, Im really amazed and humbled to be able to work along side such great role models and pioneers. I consider myself very lucky to be in this sector and talking Sh*t for a living, with so many cool women some of which I am lucky enough to consider my friends too. Beyond that I am hopeful for the trend we are setting for the next generation who can see what we are capable of and the difference we can make to women's lives around the world!

Happy women's day!
Esther

Dear all,

like many of you I am passionate about sanitation. Water and sanitation are key for gender equality.

I am working for an NGO network called WECF: Women Engage for a Common Future and today, on International Women’s Day, we are launching the website www.women2030.org for our gender equality and sustainable development initiative: #women2030!

To implement the Sustainable Development Goals with a gender equality lens, our website will aim to question structural inequality and entrenched gender roles. The website will have training materials, a resource database, bottom-up gender disaggregated data, information about gender equality and the SDGs, guidelines for gender analysis, as well as policy and advocacy tools. Together with our local partners we are building capacity, pressing for progress at local, regional and international level and bringing local issues to the global space.

Enjoy reading
Claudia

Hi all,

My name is Becky Sindall and I live in Durban, South Africa. I work with the Pollution Research Group at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. I am the Operations Manager for the Engineering Field Testing Platform, which field tests new sanitation technologies in their early development stages. I lead a team of five young prototype engineers who work closely with technology developers, municipal engineers, contractors, social scientists, and the lab team to install, commission, sample, test, and provide feedback on the performance and user acceptance of prototype sanitation systems.

Things move fast on this project and it's sometimes a battle to keep things running smoothly but I work with an awesome team and the work is incredibly rewarding when we get it right! In addition, there are fantastic women heading up the overall project management, the municipal liaison, the engineering consultancy and contractor liaison, the social science team, the administration team and the lab team. It really is a pleasure to be surrounded by so many amazing women in sanitation.

Becky

I'm Carol, Program Manager for PHLUSH in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. What's my role in the sanitation sector? I talk and write about toilet systems and work hard to get others to, too. Here's what I want everyone to think about .

• unhoused Americans who are deprived of dignity and health because they don't have toilets;
  
• people who stay away from public places and don't take transit because they can't find a public restrooms;
  
• families too poor to fix their failing septic systems;
• cities whose wastewater treatment plants are vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis and sea level rise; and
• why are we flushing our shit with drinking water?

All these things are really hard for North Americans to face up to. In her TEDx talk my friend Molly Winter explains "The taboo secret to better health" and the superpowers of pee and poop that we just don't talk about.

My PHLUSH colleagues include some really cool women. Abby specializes in water resources management and public policy and social justice issues related to sanitation. Hayley actually knows how to build toilet systems. Poonam, our Communications Advisor, connects us with our audiences. Angela is our nonprofit finance and management guru. Anna fights for the right of LGBTQ folks to restroom safety and comfort and even helps design better facilities.

I feel grateful to be here on the SuSanA Forum among people who are committed to the 4.5 billion of our fellow humans without safe,sustainable toilet systems. Hats off to you!

My name is Connie Benjamin. I’m based in WaterAid UK and am the Knowledge and Network Intern Sanitation.

I primarily work supporting the development of SuSanA as part of the Gates Foundation funded project.

Outside of this work I’m particularly interested in issues surrounding equality, inclusion and sanitation. Last year I was excited to co-author a WEDC paper on LGBTI and sanitation: wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/resources/con...40/Benjamin-2649.pdf

I’m at the beginning of my career and have already been very fortunate to work with some women I greatly admire who have helped me see a future for myself in the sector. I look forward to meeting many more here!

Hi Connie,


I am Ada Oko-Williams Indeed I am a Woman in Sanitation! Very pleased to meet you here and what a great initiative!

Looking forward to linking with other women in WASH / Sanitaion joining us here to celebrate.

Cheers
Ada

Dear all,

To celebrate International Women’s day on the 8th of March, here at SuSanA we are celebrating the women who work in sanitation and on relevant themes.

It has been recognised that women have an incredibly important role in the WASH sector: when in positions of leadership they have the potential to serve as role models, they can bring valuable perspectives and get gender on the WASH agenda.* There are a great many women doing amazing work in this space. Let’s meet each other here and share what we do!

Wherever you are in the world, and whether you are in implementation, NGO, private sector, research etc., whether you are at the very beginning of your career or have years of experience, we would love to meet you. You are invited to introduce yourselves in the chat below.

You can post your name, where you are in the world, a bit about what you do and perhaps give us some insight into something you are currently working on, or are particularly proud of. This is just guidance so please feel free to share however much, or little, you like.

After you’ve posted why not nominate a woman you admire in the sanitation sector to also post an introduction? Send them a link to this thread with your own message or you can copy and paste this:

The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) is celebrating women who work in sanitation in honour of international women’s day. I would like to nominate you to post a short introduction to yourself and your work here: forum.susana.org/213-world-toilet-day-wo...national-women-s-day

I look forward to meeting you!

Kind Regards,
Connie

If you are transgender, third gender or non-binary this post is absolutely for you. You can introduce yourselves below, no need to give an explanation, share what you are comfortable with.

If you are male - welcome, feel free to read along!

*https://sanitationupdates.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/why-womens-involvement-in-water-and-sanitation-development-is-important/