South Asia’s significant water resources are unevenly distributed, with about a fifth of the population lacking adequate access. Across the region this vital substance determines livelihoods and in some cases even survival. By revealing the extent to which water access depends on power relations and politics, Diverting the Flow offers new perspectives on the relationship between gender equity and water issues in South Asia.
Drawing on empirical research and relevant theoretical frameworks, the contributors show how gender intersects with other axes of social difference—such as class, caste, ethnicity, age, and religion—to shape water use and management practices. Each of the volume’s six thematic sections begins by introducing key concepts, debates, and theories before moving on to parse such issues as rights, policies, technologies, and intervention strategies. Taken together, they demonstrate that gender issues are the key to understanding and improving water distribution and management practices in the region. Featuring work by leading scholars in the field, this volume will be essential reading for students and scholars of water, gender, and development in South Asia.
Drawing on empirical research and relevant theoretical frameworks, the contributors show how gender intersects with other axes of social difference—such as class, caste, ethnicity, age, and religion—to shape water use and management practices. Each of the volume’s six thematic sections begins by introducing key concepts, debates, and theories before moving on to parse such issues as rights, policies, technologies, and intervention strategies. Taken together, they demonstrate that gender issues are the key to understanding and improving water distribution and management practices in the region. Featuring work by leading scholars in the field, this volume will be essential reading for students and scholars of water, gender, and development in South Asia.
624 pages | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 | © 2012
Asian Studies: South Asia
Sociology: Demography and Human Ecology
Table of Contents
List of Tables and Figures
List of Abbreviations
Preface and Acknowledgements
Section 1: Understanding Gender and Water Linkages
1. Gender and Water in South Asia: Revisiting Perspectives, Policies and Practice
Sara Ahmed and Margreet Zwarteveen
2. Understanding Gendered Agency in Water Governance
Frances Cleaver
Section 2: Gender, Water Laws and Policies
3. Gender, Water Laws and Policies: An Introduction
Margreet Zwarteveen and Sara Ahmed
4. Decentralising or Marginalising Women: Gender Relations and Sector Reforms in India
Seema K. Kulkarni and K.J. Joy
5. The Right to Water in Different Discourses
Priya Sangameswaran
6. Water Rights and Gender Rights: The Sri Lanka Experience
Kusum Athukorala and Ruana Rajepakse
Section 3: Gender, Water Supply and Sanitation
7. Gender in Drinking Water and Sanitation: An Introduction
Deepa Joshi and Margreet Zwarteveen
8. Sanitation for the Urban Poor: Gender Matters
Deepa Joshi, Ben Fawcett and Fouzia Mannan
9. Reducing a Community’s Water and Sanitation Burden: Insights from Maharashtra
Nitish Jha
10. Gendered Waters, Poisoned Wells: Political Ecology of the Arsenic Crisis in Bangladesh
Farhana Sultana
11. Modern Water for Modern Women: Questioning the Relationship between Gender, Empowerment and Participation
Kathleen O’Reilly
Section 4: Gender, Water and Agrarian Change
12. Gender, Water and Agrarian Change: An Introduction
Margreet Zwarteveen
13. Groundwater Vending and Appropriation of Women’s Labour: Gender, Water Scarcity and Agrarian Change in a Gujarati Village, India
Anjal Prakash
14. Highlighting the User in Waste Water Irrigation Research: Gender, Class and Caste Dynamics of Livelihoods near Hyderabad, India
Stephanie Buechler and Gayathri Devi Mekala
Section 5: Gender and Water Technologies
15. Gender and Water Technologies: An Introduction
Margreet Zwarteveen
16. Farming Women and Irrigation Technology: Cases from Nepal
Bhawana Upadhyay
17. Gender and Water Technologies: Linking the Variables in Arsenic and Fluoride Mitigation
Nandita Singh
18. Perspectives on Gender and Large Dams
Lyla Mehta
19. Large Water Control Mechanisms: Gender Impact of the Damodar Valley Corporation, India
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
Section 6: Strategies to Address Gendered Water Concerns
20. Strategies to Address Gendered Water Concerns: An Introduction
Suman Rimal Gautam and Margreet Zwarteveen
21. Improving Processes of Natural Resources Management at the Grassroots: The Case of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
Smita Mishra Panda and Ravi Sannabhadti
22. Thinking and Acting on Gender Issues: The Interface of Policy, Culture and Identity
Pranita Bhushan Udas
23. Adopting a Gender Approach in a Water and Sanitation Project: The Case of the 4WS Project in Coastal Communities in South Asia
Christine Sijbesma, Kochurani Mathew, Rashika Nishshanka, Palitha Jayaweera, Marielle Snel, Helvi Heinonen-Tanski, Avizit Reaz Quazi, M.D. Jakariya
Glossary
Notes on Contributors
List of Abbreviations
Preface and Acknowledgements
Section 1: Understanding Gender and Water Linkages
1. Gender and Water in South Asia: Revisiting Perspectives, Policies and Practice
Sara Ahmed and Margreet Zwarteveen
2. Understanding Gendered Agency in Water Governance
Frances Cleaver
Section 2: Gender, Water Laws and Policies
3. Gender, Water Laws and Policies: An Introduction
Margreet Zwarteveen and Sara Ahmed
4. Decentralising or Marginalising Women: Gender Relations and Sector Reforms in India
Seema K. Kulkarni and K.J. Joy
5. The Right to Water in Different Discourses
Priya Sangameswaran
6. Water Rights and Gender Rights: The Sri Lanka Experience
Kusum Athukorala and Ruana Rajepakse
Section 3: Gender, Water Supply and Sanitation
7. Gender in Drinking Water and Sanitation: An Introduction
Deepa Joshi and Margreet Zwarteveen
8. Sanitation for the Urban Poor: Gender Matters
Deepa Joshi, Ben Fawcett and Fouzia Mannan
9. Reducing a Community’s Water and Sanitation Burden: Insights from Maharashtra
Nitish Jha
10. Gendered Waters, Poisoned Wells: Political Ecology of the Arsenic Crisis in Bangladesh
Farhana Sultana
11. Modern Water for Modern Women: Questioning the Relationship between Gender, Empowerment and Participation
Kathleen O’Reilly
Section 4: Gender, Water and Agrarian Change
12. Gender, Water and Agrarian Change: An Introduction
Margreet Zwarteveen
13. Groundwater Vending and Appropriation of Women’s Labour: Gender, Water Scarcity and Agrarian Change in a Gujarati Village, India
Anjal Prakash
14. Highlighting the User in Waste Water Irrigation Research: Gender, Class and Caste Dynamics of Livelihoods near Hyderabad, India
Stephanie Buechler and Gayathri Devi Mekala
Section 5: Gender and Water Technologies
15. Gender and Water Technologies: An Introduction
Margreet Zwarteveen
16. Farming Women and Irrigation Technology: Cases from Nepal
Bhawana Upadhyay
17. Gender and Water Technologies: Linking the Variables in Arsenic and Fluoride Mitigation
Nandita Singh
18. Perspectives on Gender and Large Dams
Lyla Mehta
19. Large Water Control Mechanisms: Gender Impact of the Damodar Valley Corporation, India
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
Section 6: Strategies to Address Gendered Water Concerns
20. Strategies to Address Gendered Water Concerns: An Introduction
Suman Rimal Gautam and Margreet Zwarteveen
21. Improving Processes of Natural Resources Management at the Grassroots: The Case of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
Smita Mishra Panda and Ravi Sannabhadti
22. Thinking and Acting on Gender Issues: The Interface of Policy, Culture and Identity
Pranita Bhushan Udas
23. Adopting a Gender Approach in a Water and Sanitation Project: The Case of the 4WS Project in Coastal Communities in South Asia
Christine Sijbesma, Kochurani Mathew, Rashika Nishshanka, Palitha Jayaweera, Marielle Snel, Helvi Heinonen-Tanski, Avizit Reaz Quazi, M.D. Jakariya
Glossary
Notes on Contributors