IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v22y2008i7p925-942.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Equitable Gender Participation in Local Water Governance: An Insight into Institutional Paradoxes

Author

Listed:
  • Nandita Singh

Abstract

The participation of local stakeholders in governance of water resources is regarded as inalienable for ensuring efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. To enhance gender balance in the water governance process, institutions are being designed and executed globally to elicit enhanced participation of women. This paper contends that in the context of local communities, the new institutional framework is divorced from the traditional social institutions that in turn operationalize their resource management systems. Based upon empirical evidence from rural Indian setting, the paper deciphers the paradoxes between the two sets of institutional paradigms and illustrates how these paradoxes at the ‘interface’ between the local community context and the development strategy lead to problems with effective women’s participation. On the basis of the findings, it argues that the institutional paradigm for achieving equitable gender participation in local water governance does not represent a truly ‘bottom-up’ approach. It further raises the concern that if the institutional paradigm for participation is contradictory to local institutions, then how can the objectives of participation founded thereupon be seen as achievable? The paper proposes the need to design participatory paradigms that are more realistically rooted in community-based institutional frameworks so as to enhance effectiveness of the endeavors. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008

Suggested Citation

  • Nandita Singh, 2008. "Equitable Gender Participation in Local Water Governance: An Insight into Institutional Paradoxes," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(7), pages 925-942, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:22:y:2008:i:7:p:925-942
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-007-9202-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-007-9202-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-007-9202-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Margreet Zwarteveen, 1998. "Gendered participation in water management: Issues and illustrations from water users‘ associations in South Asia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 15(4), pages 337-345, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shrestha, Gitta & Clement, Floriane, 2019. "Unravelling gendered practices in the public water sector in Nepal," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 21(5):1017-.
    2. Das, Priyam, 2014. "Women’s Participation in Community-Level Water Governance in Urban India: The Gap Between Motivation and Ability," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 206-218.
    3. Jae Ho Lee & David Matarrita-Cascante & Ying Xu & Michael Schuett, 2018. "Examining the Conflicting Relationship between U.S. National Parks and Host Communities: Understanding a Community’s Diverging Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ogada, Maurice Juma, 2012. "Forest Management Decentralization in Kenya: Effects on Household Farm Forestry Decisions in Kakamega," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126319, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Handapangoda, Wasana Sampath & Sisira Kumara, Ajanth, 2012. "From silence to voice: Examining the empowerment potential of mobile phones to women in Sri Lanka The case of dependent housewives," MPRA Paper 41768, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Oct 2012.
    3. Barbara Ntombi Ngwenya & Ketlhatlogile Keta Mosepele & Lapologang Magole, 2012. "A case for gender equity in governance of the Okavango Delta fisheries in Botswana," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(2), pages 109-122, May.
    4. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & McClafferty, Bonnie, 2006. "Using gender research in development: food security in practice," Food security in practice technical guide series 2, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Awal Abdul‐Rahaman & Gazali Issahaku & Wanglin Ma, 2023. "Agrifood system participation and production efficiency among smallholder vegetable farmers in Northern Ghana," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 812-835, July.
    6. Das, Priyam, 2014. "Women’s Participation in Community-Level Water Governance in Urban India: The Gap Between Motivation and Ability," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 206-218.
    7. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Doss, Cheryl R. & Theis, Sophie, 2017. "Women’s land rights as a pathway to poverty reduction: A framework and review of available evidence," IFPRI discussion papers 1663, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Barbara Schreiner & Ndileka Mohapi & Barbara Van Koppen, 2004. "Washing away poverty: Water, democracy and gendered poverty eradication in South Africa," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(3), pages 171-178, August.
    9. Rebecca Nixon & Francis Owusu, 2017. "Choice, Inclusion, and Access to Information: Understanding Female Farmers’ Participation in Kyrgyzstan’s Water-User Associations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Fischer, Elisabeth & Qaim, Matin, 2012. "Gender, Agricultural Commercialization, and Collective Action in Kenya," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126659, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Shrestha, Gitta & Clement, Floriane, 2019. "Unravelling gendered practices in the public water sector in Nepal," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 21(5):1017-.
    12. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Pandolfelli, Lauren, 2010. "Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers: Resources, Constraints, and Interventions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 581-592, April.
    13. McNamara, Paul E. & Lee, Han Bum, 2017. "Strengthening Nutrition and Improving Livelihoods through Linking Women Farmers to Markets," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258091, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Aarnoudse, E. & Closas, Alvar & Lefore, Nicole, 2018. "Water user associations: a review of approaches and alternative management options for Sub-Saharan Africa," IWMI Working Papers H048782, International Water Management Institute.
    15. Reyes-Garcia, V. & Aubriot, O. & Ariza-Montobbio, P. & Galan-del-Castillo, E. & Serrano-Tovar, T. & Martinez-Alier, J., 2008. "Local perception and use of the multifunctionality of tanks in two villages of Tamil Nadu, South India," Conference Papers h042346, International Water Management Institute.
    16. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Quisumbing, Agnes & Behrman, Julia & Biermayr-Jenzano, Patricia & Wilde, Vicki & Noordeloos, Marco & Ragasa, Catherine & Beintema, Nienke, 2010. "Engendering agricultural research," IFPRI discussion papers 973, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. K. Gulam Dasthagir, 2021. "Exclusion of Women Beneath Patriarchal Enclaves in Participatory Irrigation Management in South India," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 408-425, October.
    18. Suhardiman, Diana & Raut, Manita & Pradhan, P. & Meinzen-Dick, R., 2023. "Irrigation systems management in Nepal: women’s strategies in response to migration-induced challenges," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 16(1):1-21..
    19. Emine Eminel Sülün, 2018. "Women, Water Resource Management, and Sustainable Development: The Turkey-North Cyprus Water Pipeline Project," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-13, August.
    20. Cook, Nathan J., 2024. "Experimental evidence on minority participation and the design of community-based natural resource management programs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:22:y:2008:i:7:p:925-942. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.