Challenges of Water Crisis on Women’s Socio-Economic Activities in the Buea Municipality, Cameroon

Although water is a basic human right, it is also essential for achieving sustainable development and povertyalleviation. The economic cost of water crisis can be very severe for women in low income societies whoseactivities revolve around water, ranging from domestic to economic needs. This paper looks at the watersituation of a rapidly growing town, Buea, in the SW Region of Cameroon, and how it poses a challenge towomen’s socio-economic efforts. The results presented are based on analysis of field data collected from 177water users and stakeholders of the study area through a stratified random sampling technique and analyzed withthe help of SPSS and Epi softwares. Findings reveal that the water crisis in Buea is human- induced and womenare the most affected because their socioeconomic lives are highly dependent on water. While this situationdirectly affects the quality/quantity of water, and the amount of time women spend on water collection, it alsohas far-reaching implications on the socio-economic welfare of the municipality.