Sanitation Shortfall

In the book The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World, it surprised me that the absence of adequate sanitation affects girls, more so in a negative way, then men and boys. Who would have thought that collecting water is a major factor in the absence of women in school? I never before realized that water/sanitation makes women more susceptable to attacks and how it makes their household work even more arduous and complicated. Their roles are demanding and necessary in order for them and their families to survive, yet, these women are still denied the type of education that men/boys recieve. The importance of their roles are once again over looked.
In an article I read titled "The Worst Mistake In The History Of The Human Race" by anthropologist Jared Diamond, he goes into explaining how agriculture basically lead to inequality between the sexes. Farming women tend to have more babies for more helping hands in the fields than women in hunting-gathering civilizations. However, these women in agricultural soceities are also under pressure to to work in the fields and take care of their families. Diamond stated about women in New Guinea farming communities today that "I often see women staggering under loads of vegetables and firewood while men walk empty-handed" (67). It has just become expected of women to play these types of roles and do these types of things.
Luckily, today America does not practice these traditional farming techniques so women do not experience the types of inequality that women of farming communities do. However, due to our long history of farming, I feel that these traditional roles of women have been so deeply engrained in soceity that it is difficult to get rid of them. Yes, women have broken free from these traditional roles, but there is still some leeway. And there is still much violence extorted upon women like those in farming communities. In both communities women are attacked mostly when they are by themselves. I believe that men think there is a type of susceptibility to those women who are by themselves because in general, they are viewed as weak and unimoportant. But how can men think this when women contribute a great amount to society/communities? I also think it is evident that farming also brought about inequality amongst races such as African Americans. They were used as slaves and, therefore thought less of. This thought has also been so deeply engrained in soceity that white people automatically assume that they are better than everyone. It is a good thing that today there is more awareness of these acts of discrimination, and hopefully with this awareness racism will start to hault (slowly, but surely).