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Such indicators are especially important to women. In addition to their responsibilities for children, women are usually the ones who take care of the sick, cook the meals, wash the clothes, clean the houses, and fetch and carry the fuel and the water.
In general, the surveys found the domestic conditions were very much worse in sub-Saharan Africa, where about three quarters of households have no electricity. African women also have the largest number of children, the greatest burden of illness to cope with, and spend the most hours fetching wood and water.
Note: The definition of `access to piped water' used by the DHS surveys is different from the definitions used for the League table on access to water (which vary from nation to nation and which often include water from wells).
Women's weekly
DHS surveys in over 30 countries asked women aged 15-49 if they read a newspaper at least once a week. Similar questions were asked about radio and television. Radio topped the list in 21 of the 33 countries, television in 8.
% of women who % of women who
read newspaper read newspaper
weekly weekly
-------------------------------------------------------------
Trinidad and Tobago 88 Indonesia 27
Ecuador 75 Egypt 25
Philippines 73 Tanzania 25
Paraguay 70 Morocco 22
Peru 69 Mexico 21
El Salvador 61 Tunisia 20
Sri Lanka 59 Malawi 19
Colombia 54 Dominican Rep. 16
Namibia 54 Madagascar 15
Brazil 45 Pakistan 14
Turkey 45 Senegal 13
Zambia 42 Jordan 11
Bolivia 41 Burkina Faso 8
Thailand 40 Yemen 8
Zimbabwe 40 Bangladesh 7
Kenya 31 Niger 4
Guatemala 30
Source: Updated from Women's lives and experiences. DHS 1994.
Home front
Basic indicators of physical living conditions in 42 countries surveyed by the DHS programme. Dirt floors, and the lack of electricity and piped water, have a particular bearing on women's lives.
% of homes with
Access Average
Surfaced piped of three
Electricity floors water indicators
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sub-Saharan Africa
Botswana 11 63 88 54
Namibia 27 47 57 44
Senegal 26 58 47 44
Ghana 26 69 31 42
Nigeria 27 60 25 37
Zambia 19 47 46 37
Cameroon 29 42 34 35
Guinea 26 39 25 30
Kenya 11 31 33 25
Madagascar 9 47 17 24
Tanzania 8 20 33 20
Burkina Faso 6 30 17 18
Malawi 3 13 25 14
Rwanda 2 11 22 12
Niger 5 13 15 11
Uganda 6 14 8 9
Mali 5 20 2 9
Zimbabwe - 82 44 -
Togo - 75 33 -
Burundi - 5 13 -
----------------------------------------------------------
Asia, the Middle East and North Africa
Egypt 93 68 80 80
Philippines 66 93 37 65
Thailand 76 96 17 63
Morocco 49 71 55 58
Indonesia 49 69 15 44
Sri Lanka 23 59 18 33
Sudan 31 14 53 33
Bangladesh 18 10 5 11
Jordan 97 - 97 -
Turkey - 91 71 -
Pakistan 61 - 35 -
Nepal 13 - 19 -
----------------------------------------------------------
Latin America and the Caribbean
Trinidad & Tobago 93 100 88 94
Colombia 91 90 89 90
Mexico 84 80 78 81
Ecuador 79 88 72 80
Dominican Rep. 78 89 67 78
Peru 70 63 72 68
Bolivia 64 55 62 60
El Salvador 62 56 61 60
Paraguay 58 68 36 54
Guatemala 48 45 61 51
- Data not collected in survey
Source: Updated from Women's lives and experiences, DHS 1994.