Gender, Water and Development [Paperback]

There is a renewed global commitment to 'water for all'. Yet even though women are usually responsible for domestic water provision, their needs and voices continue to be marginalized in the development process. A close analysis of current policy and practice shows that organizations providing improved water supplies to poor communities typically neglect the gendered nature of access to and control over water resources. The resulting gender bias causes inefficiencies and injustices in water provision and reduces the effectiveness of well-meant efforts.

This book shows how, in different environmental, historical and cultural contexts, gender has been an important element in water provision. It draws on a wide range of first-hand material, analyzed from different disciplinary perspectives. Case studies include analysis of the role of water in inhibiting the fight against HIV/AIDS in southern Africa, and the challenges of taking gender into account in large water projects in India and Nepal.

Anne Coles is Research Associate, International Gender Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. Tina Wallace is Research Associate, International Gender Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. Senior Research Fellow, School of Business, Oxford Brookes.

Introduction--Tina Wallace, University of Oxford and Anne Coles, University of Oxford * Section 1 Availability and Supply Issues in the Water Sector * Water Beneath their Feet: Aquifers that Supply the Needs of Rural Africa--Jeffrey Davies, British Geological Society and Janette Davies, University of Oxford * Wells and Ways of Life: Geology and Gender--Anne Coles, University of Oxford * Section 2 Access to and Use of Water: Who Gets it and For What? * Looking Back* Cosmology and Material Culture in the Appropriation of Water Resources--Veronica Strang, AUT New Zealand * Water and Gender; Hindu Mythology and an Unequal Social Order in India--Deepa Joshi, Southampton University * Nlã