WASH and Women's Empowerment in Haiti
An empirical investigation into how access to clean water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene resources affects women's economic and social empowerment in Haiti, using Demographic and Health Survey microdata.
Overview
This research investigates the relationship between Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) access and women's empowerment in Haiti. Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) microdata analyzed in STATA, the project conducts comprehensive Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) to examine how improvements in WASH infrastructure correlate with measures of women's economic participation, decision-making power, and social status.
This work was conducted as part of a Research Internship with PAC@REDI at Colorado State University and later evolved into a peer-reviewed publication: "WASH and Women's Empowerment in Haiti" published in the journal Sustainable Development.
Motivation
In many developing countries, women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of water collection and household sanitation management. Limited access to clean water and adequate sanitation not only affects health outcomes but also constrains women's time availability for education, economic activities, and civic participation. Haiti — one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere with significant WASH infrastructure challenges — provides a critical case study for understanding these dynamics.
Data & Methods
- DHS Microdata: The Demographic and Health Survey provides nationally representative, household-level data on WASH access (water source type, sanitation facility quality), women's empowerment indicators (decision-making autonomy, labor force participation, education levels), and socioeconomic controls.
- Data Wrangling in STATA: Extensive cleaning and restructuring of the raw DHS dataset, including recoding variables, creating composite empowerment indices, handling missing data, and constructing analytical datasets suitable for regression analysis.
- Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA): Systematic examination of distributions, correlations, and subgroup differences to identify patterns in how WASH access varies across regions, socioeconomic groups, and its association with empowerment outcomes.
Dissemination
- CSU International Symposium: Research findings and methodology were presented at the Colorado State University International Symposium.
- Peer-Reviewed Publication: The research was developed into a manuscript titled "WASH and Women's Empowerment in Haiti," published in the journal Sustainable Development (Brundage et al., 2025).
Key Findings
The analysis reveals meaningful associations between WASH access and women's empowerment indicators in Haiti. Households with improved water sources and sanitation facilities show higher levels of female economic participation and decision-making autonomy, even after controlling for socioeconomic factors.
Visualizations & Results
