Reflections from Gender Water Forum- Dhulikhel
Rachana Upadhyaya, Researcher at SIAS (Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies)
Half an hour late into the program, as organizers, we walked into the program hall of Dhulikhel Municipality without any qualms. Personally having worked on women’s issue at community level, I was assured that the participants of our forum would not arrive before noon. The context was –Gender Water Forum[1] and the invited participants were mostly women from Dhulikhel Municipality- some ward members, members of the drinking water committees and some local women water users. As a researcher specializing in gender issue, this type of wait is sometimes more revealing of women’s situation in a community than having a face to face conversation. The woman on the front desk of the municipality, with whom I sat chit-chatting during the wait, voiced out what I was only speculating. “It is not possible for women to reach here by 11 in the morning, that also on a working day. They need to finish the household chores before they can leave. We both agreed that the unfair share of everyday household drudgery is often behind the ‘lateness’ of women in community programs. Getting anywhere in time becomes even more difficult because of the geography in hilly towns like Dhulikhel. Nearly after an hour of waiting, women started making their way into our program venue- 2 or 3 at a time. The turn-out was less than one-third of what we expected but we started our discussion when the front row of the hall was filled.
With my previous experience of talking about Women and Water, I was a little apprehensive on how this group of women would receive my presentation. In similar talks twice before, I was challenged by the participating women on the topic of my presentation- Women and Water, which they thought was a ‘human’ rather than women’s issue. Same was the case this time around. As before, the participants of the water forum, thought about water management in terms of its end- the actual use of water. And they were right to point out that at user’s end- water indeed is a human issue. Nevertheless, in a country like ours where development is mired in not only economic but also geographic challenges, in many communities, women’s and girl’s bodies are indispensable part of household water delivery system; despite denials inevitably links women and water. Dhulikhel Municipality has been able to provide running water services to most of its core settlement[2] areas, however, the population residing in the periphery[3] do not enjoy the same basic amenities especially in dry season. And during such crisis situation, mostly it is women’s job to fetch water for the household. While women are vital part of water management in the household level, their representation in community water management bodies has not been more than numeric. After our initial fall out, eventually, I was able to make the participating women see how water was a gendered issue. While doing so, based on our conversations and discussion, I could also hypothesize some possible reason why women despite their ever so important role in managing water are marginalized in the formal water management bodies. Here goes my initial observation based on the discussion:
Technological Handicap: Since less than a third of invited women participated in the water forum- a platform that has been used for influencing policy changes, it raised a question on why women’s participation was such low. One of the reasons, the participants stated was the means of communication used. The municipality used text-message to inform the women ward members about the water forum. It was found out the not all women ward members were literate, which made them unable to access the message. While some who were literate may not be technologically savvy to access text messages as their use is limited to phone calls. Therefore, a phone call or in-person visit would be more appropriate means of communication to ensure the participation of women in any given program. It was deduced that means of communication chosen to deliver messages could also be a factor contributing to women’s exclusion in decision making/knowledge sharing forums. ( It was later revealed that yet another reason for low participation was because women from the core settlement did not participate in the program because they did not face water problems as much as the one living in the periphery region. Such discrepancy is water distribution also underscores the ongoing tension within Dhulikhel municipality)
Misaligned Priorities: Water forums usually bring together various professionals working within different government and non-government entities on natural resource governance. While these professionals (all men) actively participated in similar forums previously questioned whether women and water was the only issue to be discussed insinuating their lack of interest in the issue. When talking about water management or any natural resource governance issue, both the discussion and decisions are carried out within male circles. The priorities of these decision makers do not always align with the needs of women who bear the brunt of managing water in their households and communities. On one hand the socio-cultural barriers of our society hinders women from asserting their demands, while in the other, their gender specific needs do not get prioritized in male dominated decision making settings. Being ‘unheard’ then becomes a reason for women’s disaffection towards participating unyielding meetings and forums leading to self-inflected exclusion.
Adaptation: Speaking with the women participants of the water forum made me realize the malleability of Nepalese women. How hard the situation hits, instead of resisting it or breaking apart, they bear with the situation. This bearing capacity of women then is scientifically euphemized as adaptation. Women describing their household water management strategy during scarcity revealed how they adapt to unfavorable situation. Instead of vying to the public post or raising voice for policy changes that favors their situation, women mostly adapt to difficult situation. Which in case of household water management may mean waking up in early hours of morning to fill their water tanks, or in case of the settlements in the outskirts of Dhulikhel, walking extra miles to fetch water putting their physical health in peril.
The policy recommendation on literatures on women and water emphasize the need of meaningful participation of women in water management bodies. However, writings are scanty regarding the difference in ability to participate among men and women and also on the perceived cost and benefits of participation. The discussions from the gender water forum highlighted that there could be a range of reasons that prohibits, hinders and discourages women’s participation on equitable decision making within community managed water distribution systems. Water management/governance systems, due to its both technical and social aspect, can be a medium to subvert traditional gender roles that are reserved for men and women. Given the current situation as observed in Dhulikhel, it can be said that it has been a lost opportunity- not only for women but for the entire community.
[1] Water Forum (Pani Chautari) is an informal platform where stakeholders come together and discuss on water related problems and explore solutions. It is a unique practice of engaging with research users at local level so as to create impact from on-going research.
[2] Core settlement in Dhulikhel is the town center and settlements nearby.
[3] Periphery refers to settlement in the outskirts of main bazar, that is relatively less developed.
Publish date: 2019/07/22
“Views expressed here are personal and not associated with any affiliated organisations”
