Reforming Water, Adding Women

Reforming Water, Adding Women: Does decentralised water governance further gender justice in India? : Issues and Recommendations, is a policy brief written by the Society for Promoting Participative Eco-system Management (SOPPECOM), Utthan and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

The study draws on field insights from demand responsive drinking water supply projects in Gujarat and Maharashtra and looks at the context of women's participation in decentralised water management. It tries to understand financial, political and administrative factors which have either facilitated or constrained rural women in the exercise of their rights and priorities as empowered water decision-makers and the implications of such articulation for the sustainable, gender-just and equitable management of community water resources. The study finds that gender inequalities whether in terms of division of water work, decision making or access to resrouces - have not changed substantively in favour of women's rights and makes a series of policy recommendations for decentralisation in domestic water sector to be more effective.

SOPPECOM is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1991, working in the area of Natural Resource Management (NRM) primarily in the rural areas.
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Utthan, is a registered non-profit organization founded in 1981 and has been working in four water stressed and resource poor districts in Gujarat for the past two decades.
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TISS, a deemed univeristy founded in 1936, contributes to civil society and the development sector through education, research, field action and extension in social work, social sciences, human resources management, health systems and allied fields.
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