ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the factors that determine women's participation in water management and the gendered decentralization of water resources in the local context of Sindh. It evaluates women's participation in the ongoing reform program at policy, institutional and community levels. The chapter provides evidence from the field for how lack of women's participation and consideration of their water needs has impacted on the effectiveness of water-related infrastructures. The Government of Pakistan has taken various steps to empower women in the country. However, despite commitments to women's empowerment and significant gains on many fronts, water management still remains solely a male preserve in Pakistan. The operation and maintenance of larger canal irrigation systems is a domain in which the actual water distribution happens, and which consists of only male staff engineers, abdars, gatekeepers and canal operators next to the users and others with an interest in water.
