Every year, in August, our country marks women’s month. We also pay tribute to the more than 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on August 9 1956 in protest against the extension of pass laws to women. It was a system meant to control women even further and reduce them to passive beings, at the mercy of men.

Today, women’s month provides us with an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women across our country and beyond. Around the globe, women are primarily responsible for providing water for their families. Tasked with this critical role, they face an impossible choice; certain death without water or possible death from illness due to dirty water...