Water for Poor Women Quest for an Alternative Paradigm [Hardcover]

Ahmed examines the impact of different water governance mechanisms on poor women in Dhaka and Manila. Dhaka has a state-led water governance system that provides cheap, but low quality, water. The needs and interests of marginalized women are not taken into account or included in the decision-making process. In contrast, the public-private participation governance system in metropolitan Manila provides more expensive, but high quality, water. Marginalized women benefit from the high quality of water and struggle to pay for it, but they are not included in the governance structure. Ahmed recommends an alternative governance paradigm that is deliberative and reflexive, is centered on the needs of marginalized women, and incorporates them into the governance process. By reflexive, he means participatory with special mechanisms to ensure the participation of marginalized women. By deliberative, he means a process in which the various segments of a community, including marginalized women, coordinate their priorities. The comparative analysis of the two water governance systems is valuable. The alternative governance paradigm is admirable but lacks a political strategy for implementation. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduate, graduate, and research collections.Sayeed Ahmed has written an important book that will be useful for scholars and water managers who want to better understand the issues surrounding water resource management for marginalized women and the urban poor.Dr. Ahmed carefully documents the tragic failure of both public and private water systems to provide safe and affordable water for poor and marginalized women, and he notes the critical importance of doing so if we hope to solve water problems in the 21st century.Water for Poor Women: Quest for an Alternative Paradigm, by Sayeed Iftekhar Ahmed, develops an alternative governance paradigm to ensure poor womens water security through their participation in the governance process. This study assesses thl#Ÿ