Women and the Politics of Water: An Introduction (original) (raw)
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Women and water are linked together in more than one way. They may be seen as domestic water managers with specific water-related needs and interests. They may also be seen as having the potential for more active involvement in the sector at the levels of policy making, ...
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The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this book and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Series on Water and Ethics, Essay 4
Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 2007
That women play a central role in the provision, management, and safeguarding of water is one of the four internationally accepted principles of water management. This principle is especially important for the developing world where millions of women lack access to water needed for their basic needs. The objectives of this chapter are to summarize what is known about women with respect to water and about water with respect to women as well as to provide a sense of the current debates around these themes. A review of the literature suggests that the lack of gender-disaggregated data on the impacts of water policies, and underlying disagreements on how gender and development should be theorized, make it difficult to reach robust conclusions on which policies can best assure poor women reliable access to water for their lives and livelihoods.
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A summary is provided of innovative technical approaches, which different organizations are using to strive to appropriately and efficiently intervene in areas of the world that struggle with access to the vital resource of water. In the face of widespread global problems related to water, food and energy, it is encouraging to learn that governmental, and non-governmental organizations, businesses and independent researchers are working creatively and diligently to implement solutions that are environmentally sustainable, equitable, and economically feasible for low income communities, globally. The scope and number of such initiatives are indicative of the substantial needs and of innovative and compassionate efforts to alleviate human suffering that are in process already. Many lessons can be learned from these organizations that can serve as the foundation for broad-scale replication in thousands of regions.
The Public and Private Domain of the Everyday Politics of Water
This essay presents a detailed ethnographic account of the struggles of two Peruvian women to gain access and control over water and land after having separated from their husbands. From these accounts, it becomes clear that strategies for feminist action cannot and should not solely be aimed at formal laws and policies. Important water powers also reside in day-to-day water management and control practices that are embedded in culture and partly manifested in customary norms and laws, and that occur in social domains that are not normally associated with water management such as the household. The authors argue that identifying and understanding such nonformal water powers provides an important additional entry-point for devising feminist water strategies. It helps to see day-to-day 'bottle-necks' that hinder more gender equity in access to and control of water and land, and that stand in the way of a more equitable and democratic water management. At the same time, a focus on everyday water politics can also reveal important sources of agency for women, resources that they can mobilize in support of their attempts to access and control land and water. ---GENDER AND WATER: TRACING THE CONNECTIONS Water constitutes one important area of feminist struggle: access and control over water and (irrigated) land are central in the livelihoods of rural households, and key to determining one's bargaining power in different social RFJP260654 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 ---------------------J u a n a V e r a D e l g a d o a n d M a r g r e e t Z w a r t e v e e n /Water power in the Andes 3 95 100 105 110 115 120 125
Women and water resources: Continued marginalisation and new policies
Gatekeeper Series-Sustainable Agriculture …, 1995
AGRIS record. Record number, GB9527139. Titles, Women and water resources: continuedmarginalisation and new policies. Personal Authors, Cleaver, F.,Elson, D. (Development and Project Planning Centre, University of Bradford, Bradford (United Kingdom)). ...
women and water -a futuristic approach
Woman and Water: A Futuristic Approach Dr. Rekha Arya, Reader, Botany Department, Tikaram Kanya Aligarh. e-mail drrekhaarya@gmail.com According to the UN –“18% of the world’s population lack access to safe drinking water; and 42% lack access to basic sanitation. More than 2.2m people die each year from diseases associated with these conditions. As water scarcity grows it is estimated that 2/3 of the world population will live in areas facing moderate to severe water stress”. The water is the very essence of life and the Women are the very protector and nurturer of the life and the biggest manager of water. The two are inseparably linked with each other especially in the developing world. The access to this natural resource and its management is very important. In the era of scientific evolution and technological advancement the access and the management of water has become easy but still not as easy as was expected. For this a proper understanding of sources of water whether scarce or plenty plus its management by the consumer has to be understood in right perspective. There is an essential relationship between women and water as they look after the household chores generally. Moreover women are the world’s principal food producers and providers and are assuming an increasing role in agriculture. They are worst hit by the scarcity or no water situation. The scarce or badly managed water resource proves to be very injurious for her, especially for her health. In the wake of United Nations’ International Decade for Action, the Water for Life” (2005-2015) and the UN Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) that ask for integrated water management and targets to make number of people half of those who are without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, we may look for some ways out for this situation with the help of scientific knowhow which could be blended with traditional knowhow in which experiences of women could prove to be invaluable and of immense help. Over the years, women have accumulated an impressive store of environmental wisdom so they are good water managers who choose their water sources according to its accessibility, availability, distance, time, quality and use. Their knowledge and experience in the supply and use of water is invaluable, and many problems could be avoided if women were consulted on such items as local sources of water, the location of a well or the design of a pump. Furthermore, women have a pivotal role as environmental educators and communicators both within the family and the community. Women’s participation must be ensured at every level including policy making and implementation as well as at technological level in the management of local; regional and global water resources. Involvement of women in water management has set many successful examples all over the world. Some of these examples are discussed here. These efforts have resulted in empowering of woman and the betterment of society.
The water question in feminism. Water control and gender inequities in a neo-liberal era.
The current neo-liberal moment in water policy appears to offer possibilities for realizing feminist ambitions. Several feminist scholars see the individualization and privatization of resource rights as offering possibilities for confronting gender inequalities rooted in, and reproduced by, historic and structural male favoured access to productive resources such as land and water. But we seriously doubt a progressive feminist potential of neo-liberal reforms in the water sector. We focus on water used for agricultural purposes, because neo-liberal water proposals are premised on taking water out of agriculture to uses with higher marginal economic returns. A first set of doubts involves water as a specific resource, largely because of its propensity to flow. Rights to water are less fixed and more prone to be contested at various levels and in different socio-legal domains than rights to other natural resources. The second set stems from our disagreement with the ideological underpinnings of the neo-liberal project. It reflects our concern about how water reforms articulate with wider political-economic structures and historical dynamics characterized by new ways of capitalist expansion. Furthermore, mainstream neo-liberal water policy language and concepts tend to hide precisely those issues that, from a critical feminist perspective, need to be questioned. Feminist reflections about tenure insecurity and social inequities in relation to water clash with the terms of a neo-liberal framework that invisibilizes, naturalizes and objectifies the politics and powers involved in water re-allocation. A feminist response calls for challenging the individualization, marketization and consumer/client focus of the neo-liberal paradigm.
Woman Water Keeper? Women's Troubled Participation In Water Resource Management
2015
2 community water-keeper. As in most developing countries, the governance framework of neo-liberal New Public Management (NPM) advocates equal participation of men and women in CBMS for a safe and sustainable water supply. Thus, securing the success of CBMS, and indeed the community's cash contribution, wherein the community has to act as providers and beneficiaries of public water services, now involves the inclusion women. So it is within this policy framework of CBMS for safe water provision that we examine the instance or progress of what could be considered 'women's empowerment' as community water-keepers. The current dominant trend in development of 'instrumentalizing women as key providers of development for their families, communities and countries' (Porter and Wallace, 2013) provides the context for our question-can women be the community waterkeepers? First we look at the key water actors and assess women's involvement at this level, and then we consider their role in the construction of pumps and wells. Finally their involvement and participation in Water User Committees (WUCs) is examined closely from the point of view of the villagers themselves. The field work 3 for this study comprised of a socioeconomic survey of the case study area, it being fifteen villages in a rural parish in Lwengo district. This was followed by a series of in-depth interviews and focus groups in four of the villages. The key actors or 'water service provider groups' (van Koppen et al. 2009:28) were identified in the case study area where CBMS was in place. These included water users, nongovernmental actors, and government actors. The WUGs for each water source were comprised of men, women, boys and girls with varying socio-cultural backgrounds. Water users, or what are sometimes described as 'beneficiary communities' in rural water policies are inter-alia, required to participate in 'all aspects' of community-based management (broadly classified as preconstruction and selection of an "improved" water source; construction of the water source; and postconstruction, or operation, repair and maintenance), with equal representation or involvement of women and men. The main civil-society actors were Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs), particularly the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM's) who had funded the 3 The field work was undertaken with technical and financial support from the Water is Life: Amazzi Bulamu Project (WIL) which was funded through the Irish Aid/HEA Programme of Strategic CoOperation .