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Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management

A Critical View

Smita Mishra Panda, Professor of Development Studies, Human Development Foundation, Bhubaneswar, Orissa. E-mail: smitafem{at}gmail.com

This article offers a critical perspective on gender mainstreaming in water management in India by exploring the linkages between pre-given notions of ‘gender’ in mainstreaming rhetoric and selected practices of water management. Evaluative studies have shown that gender mainstreaming is not effective if restricted to practices that try to make women visible or simply add a gender component in an intervention program. The much publicized ‘Women, Water and Work’ campaign initiated by India's Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) by and large excluded men, and the newly-instituted water sector reforms, which promote privatization and marginalize women in the process, are selected for analysis to distill the meanings of gender and social interests. Prospects for effective gender mainstreaming in water management will hinge on how the main agenda can address the transformation of gender relations and treat water as a human right so as to realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in developing countries.

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Gender, Technology and Development, Vol. 11, No. 3, 321-338 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/097185240701100302


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Panda, S. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?