ABSTRACT
Gender mainstreaming will remain an elusive goal until water management becomes more responsive to gender issues by way of changes in value systems and cultures of patriarchy, which shape how water institutions function and operate. Climate change brings an additional burden to women regarding their access to water resources, because they belong to one of the vulnerable groups. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with 100 women and men engaged in water management, we attempt to bring out in this chapter women’s experiences of participation, particularly barriers to overcoming challenges of equitable participation as well as opportunities to meet the goal of gender mainstreaming in water management at the local level. The findings indicate that, while women tend to be engaged in ‘doing’ things, men are involved in decision-making. In this context, affirmative interventions to enable women’s participation are welcome and necessary. Yet they are insufficient for a meaningful participation of women in societies where class, caste, and patriarchy divide as well as overlap, for this has led to the unequal distribution of access to resources, agency, and advocacy. We are looking at a few examples of cases where women successfully challenged gendered norms and barriers to claim meaningful spaces in water management. On this basis, we argue that rather than simply targeting women to participate in water management, we need to acknowledge and tackle structural inequities; unpack contextual social relations, cultural values, and power dynamics; and design interventions supported by strategic gender budgeting. Above all, there is a need to focus on sensitising men to gendered inequalities.
