Women and Modern Domestic Water Supply Systems: Need for a Holistic Perspective

As domestic water managers, the strategic need of women has been identified as having access to domestic water sources that are convenient, reliable and located close to home. The need has been addressed through installation of low cost improved water supply systems in different parts of the developing world. While the need of women as domestic water managers has been globally articulated and addressed, perhaps adequate attention has not been drawn to the fact that this role is actually performed within the context of local communities where domestic water management activities are built upon the users' perceived needs to be fulfilled through culturally appropriate means. How do cultural intricacies in local communities influence the water fetching behaviour of women? What is the impact of such factors on the adoption and utilization of modern domestic water supply systems? The paper explores the implications of local cultural realities for the effectiveness of handpump as a modern domestic water supply systemarguing that the locally perceived water needs of women are holistic and fail to be adequately addressed through the new source. Consequently, it has been admitted only as an `add on' source, thereby hindering achievement of the basic objective of bringing women greater comfort, better health and socio-economic empowerment. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004