Gender and Water Resources

1. Gender and Water Resources Transboundary Water Resources CE 397 Kate Marney

2. Gender • Refers to the different rights, roles, and responsibilities of men and women and the relations between them • Differences between men and women are the product of socialization, guided by culture, religion, history, and the economy, and can change over time.

3. Division of Labor Women Men • Reproductive roles • Childbearing and rearing • Caring for elderly • Providing food • Health care • Productive roles • Farming • Cash laborers • Other income generating activities • Voluntary/community work • Productive roles • Cash cropping • Raising livestock

4. The Tilt of the Scale • Of the world’s 1.3 billion people living in poverty 70% are women • Women: • Work 2/3 of the world’s working hours • Produce halve of the world’s food (60-80% in the developing world • Earn only 10% or the world’s income • Own less than 1% of the world’s property

5. Problems • Access to water • Women and girls collect water • 5 to 10 hours a day • 10- 15 km per day carrying 20 kg • 26% of caloric intake in some areas • No time for education or other activities

6. Problems • Lack of sanitation • Increased exposure to disease • Danger of harassment and assault • Degrading experience • Inability to attend school • Lack of education on proper hygiene

7. Problems • Natural disasters and environmental degradation • Loss of livelihood • Desertification often makes collecting water a more strenuous chore • Loss of men to urbanization when land is not productive

8. The Circle of Life • These are only a few of the problems that perpetuate the cycle of oppression of women • Women with just a few years of basic education: • have smaller, healthier families • Are more likely to be literate • Are more likely to prioritizing educating their children • Each additional year of education reduces child mortality by 5-10%

9. Approaches of the Past and Present • 1950’s and 60’s • Welfare approach saw women as passive recipients of benefits • 1970’s and 80’s • Equity and efficiency approach challenged women’s subordinate position • 1990’s • Push for “Guiding Principles” intended to shape planning and management with an emphasis on pricing and distribution issues • Recent years • Shift towards a more holistic view of management and gender perspective in Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)

10. Integrated Water Resources Management • “Cross-sectoral policy approach to respond to growing demand for water in the context of finite supplies” • Aims to ensure coordinated development of water, land, and related resources to optimize economic and social welfare without compromising sustainability

11. But how? • Gender mainstreaming • Process of assessing implications of any planned action of men and women • Strategy for making women and men’s experiences an integral dimension of design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation • Gender Sensitivity • Awareness of the social and culture contexts in which men and women live

12. Why Gender Perspective in IWRM? • Concern for project effectiveness • Concern for sustainability • Need for accurate analysis of natural resource use • Concern for equality and sustainable human development mandated by UNDP

13. Project Effectiveness • Involving both men and women in IWRM initiatives can improve project effectiveness • Studies indicate sustainability and project effectiveness are strongly associated with women’s involvement • Case: Philippines Communal Irrigation Development • Exceeded physical development targets and estimates of irrigation intensity and paddy yields

14. Project Effectiveness • Exclusion of women from projects can have unfortunate consequences • Case: Nepal • Improved water services increased collection times nearly 5 fold because women were not consulted on the placement of the tapstands • Women were unable to bathe openly at the source on the side of the road and therefore made several long trips between home and the tapstands each day

15. Environmental Sustainability • Using gender perspective and ensuring women’s involvement can support environmental sustainability • Case: Mindanao, Philippines • Need for monitoring in lake is fulfilled by women after they are educated on the effects of water quality on health

16. Accurate Analysis • Social and economic analysis is incomplete without an understanding of gender differences and inequalities • Case: Female Farmers in Peru • Women are often unsuccessful in negotiating water turns and are stuck irrigating at night despite rules about equally distributing night turns • Projects aimed at providing equitable access to water resources should address this issue

17. Questions

18. Resources • “Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management: A practical journey to sustainability: A Resource Guide”. (2003). UN Development Program. • “Women and Water”. (2005). UN Division for Enhancement of Women. • UNICEF. (2008). “Message 3 – Sanitation contributes to social development”. UNICEF. • UNICEF. (2003). “Safe Drinking Water”. UNICEF. • GWA and UNDP. (2006) “Reference Guide: Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management”.   • UNEP. (2004) “Women in the Environment”. UNEP.