Gender and Multiple Uses of Water

1
Gender and Multiple Uses of Water

• Charity Kabutha
• Multiple Uses Discussion Forum
• Winrock International
• April 2006

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Discussions

• Context roles of men and women in agriculture
  and water systems
• Assessing potential gender impacts of multiple
  water uses
• Process of engendering multiple water uses
  strategy

3
Roles of men and women in African agriculture and
water management

• In Africa, men and women contribute to food
  production and water management, but at varying
  degrees
• Womens role
• 90 percent of processing food crops, providing
  household water and fuel wood
• 80 percent of the work of food storage and
  transport from farm to village
• 90 percent of the work of hoeing and weeding
• 60 percent of the work of harvesting and
  marketing
• Both men and women significant stakeholders
• Introduction of multiple uses of water will of
  necessity change current patterns

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A Gender Perspective in multiple water uses

• Questions to ask in anticipation of change
• What change will occur?
• What aspects will be affected?
• Who will be affected by the change and how?
• Who will gain, where?
• Who will lose, where?
• What needs to be done to moderate the negative
  changes?

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Multiple water uses where change could occur

• Labor (time, intensity, efficiency)

• Changed roles-men usually take over commercial
  enterprises

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Multiple water uses where change could occur

• Access-rights, financial
• Benefit levels-incomes-forgone, new opportunities
• Decision-making-labor, income etc
• Other impacts-girls education

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Process for mainstreaming gender

• Policy-level Develop a gender water strategy
• Management
• Institutional capacity building-main
  implementing agencies
• Development and Design
• Social analysis-on all aspects of a program
• Who is affected and whose needs are we
  addressing?
• How are those affected involved? Design,
  implementation etc
• Are the program strategies appropriate to all
  stakeholders? where do we do it, when do we do
  it, what technologies do we use, whose choice
  etc?
• How do we capture change-for those currently
  affected and those not affected?

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Process for mainstreaming gender

• Implementation local level
• Capacities
• Representation of men and women
• Empowerment of women to input in important
  decisions
• Monitoring systems
• Gender-based outcomes and indicators
• Who measures and how?