Women and Water - Gender Dimension in Water Governance

The gendered dimension of water governance :

Women are especially vulnerable to adverse impacts from climate change. Climate changes usually affect sectors traditionally associated with women; paddy cultivation, cotton and tea plantations and fishing. Prevailing social inequalities mean women typically have less adaptive capacity than men, and consequently bear a disproportionate burden of the climate change induced consequences. These include decreased food security, shortage of and reduced access to water resources and threatened existence, given their dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods.

Fact & Figures :

Water is a basic element essential to all forms of life. Women are most often responsible for domestic and community water management in developing societies. On average:

• women and children travel 10-15 kilometers,
• spending 8 or more hours per day collecting water,
• carrying up to 20 kilos or 15 liters per trip ^[1]

It was recently cited that in South Africa alone, women collectively walk the equivalent distance of 16 times to the moon and back per day gathering water for families ^[2]. In this role, women are responsible for determining sources of water to collect, quantity of water to be taken and the water’s hygienic quality. However, in this era of globalization, women’s decisions in regard to water management are often dictated by their social position, geographic location and increasingly by market forces.

Read the Source: Promoting and Protecting Women's Right to Water in the Context of Globalization and Feminized Poverty for more details..

Resources :

Reports

A Gender Perspective on Water Resources and Sanitation

Promoting and Protecting Women's Right to Water in the Context of Globalization and Feminized Poverty

GWA - Gender and IWRM Resource Guide

On-line Resources

Mainstreaming Gender in Water Governance: A Resource Guide

Gender and Water Alliance

Gender Guidelines Water Supply and Sanitation

A Gender Perspective on Water Resources and Sanitation

Organizations :

Women for Water

External Links :

• Facts and Figures: Women and Water (UNESCO / 2003 Year of Freshwater)
• Women and Water Privatization (WHRnet - Women's Human Rights net)
• Water and Women – The Flow (IndiaNest Boloji.com)

References :

^[1] Bulajic Borjana, Women’s roles – a policy overview, Waterline, Vol.17 No.1, July 1998, p7 ^[2] Maude Barlow and Tony Clark, Water Apartheid, The Nation, Aug, 15 2002.