2018 Abstract Volume

An alternative gender analytical approach for water governance
Presenting
Author:
Ms. Laura Imburgia, University of Reading, United Kingdom
Keywords
Analytical Frameworks, Gender, Irrigation, Governance, Social Relations
Highlights
• The abstract presents an alternative analytical framework to examine the issues involved in water
governance and gender participation.
• The approach helps examine the extent to which gender is a significant driver of participation in
irrigation management.
• Its application is illustrated by empirical evidence from Ethiopia and Argentina.
Introduction and objectives
It is widely recognised that rural women are important irrigation water users, in particular those dependent
upon small scale agriculture. Although there has been increasing attention to the question of women as users
of water for agriculture (Ahlers and Zwarteveen, 2009; Udas, 2014; Buisson et al., 2017), a comprehensive
analysis examining all interrelated factors, with a methodology going beyond the case study approach is
missing. This article uses an alternative analytical framework to examine the gendered outcomes of irrigation
management through the perspective of social relations of power and its contribution to gender equality in
water policy.
Methodology approach
The construction of this framework was based on reviewing relevant existing analytical approaches and the
analysis of empirical data from two contrasting settings, small scale irrigation systems in Ethiopia and
Argentina. The approach is used to examine the question: what are the outcomes of the interactions of
dynamics of gender, social relations and irrigation practice within the context of collective water governance?
The understanding of the mechanisms that govern those intersections is of particular relevance for the
understanding of how natural resource management, including water management, is gendered. This in turn
can help addressing gender differences towards broader social equality.
Analysis and results
The use of this analytical approach allows to understand and describe gender differences in access, use and
participation of different groups of irrigation water users. Applied to the irrigation management sector of
Mendoza Province, centre-west of Argentina, this analysis provides an example of how even in a technically
robust and well established democratic water management system, gender-based constraints to
participation and decision making by women persist.
The analysis of water users’ associations of Tigray, Ethiopia, shows that formal and more transparent forms
of organisations of irrigation users have visibly improved security of access to irrigation water of certain
groups of female farmers. In both Tigray and Mendoza, women appear to have a very low participation in the
governance of irrigation systems due to a number of contextual, but also similar constraints. This imbalance
in participation has practical implications, which become particularly apparent in the small scale irrigation
sector.
Empirical evidence from both countries indicates that women claiming participation in the male dominated
sector of water resource governance often have to confront culturally rooted ideologies and power
structures, often at a personal cost. This appears to also be the case elsewhere (for example, Vera Delgado,
2005; Udas and Zwarteveen, 2010).
Seminar: Tapping into collective wisdom: Gender sensitive development and water ecosystems 5