Women draw water from a well in Thar desert, Rajasthan
Vyacheslav Argenberg
In the parched landscapes of Rajasthan, water has always shaped survival, culture, and community life. In villages scattered across the Thar desert and the semi-arid plains of eastern Rajasthan, the everyday story of water is not merely about rainfall deficits, groundwater depletion, or irrigation efficiency. It is about women. Women fetch it, store it, ration it, and protect it. They negotiate access to wells, walk kilometres to collect it, and stretch every drop to sustain households and livestock.
Yet despite being the primary managers of water at the household and community level, women remain largely invisible in the formal architecture of water governance. This stark disconnect between lived reality and public policy lies at the heart of a recent scholarly review by Ruchika Sharma, Sailaja Nandigama, and Tamali Bhattacharyya, published in Social Sciences & Humanities Open (2025). The paper, titled “Mapping the disconnect in water policy and practice within water governance: An integrative literature review of women and water in Rajasthan's water governance", examines the paradox: women are central to water management in practice but marginal in policy design and decision-making.
Their findings raise uncomfortable questions about how India conceptualises water governance—and why gender-blind policies continue to shape the sector despite decades of advocacy for inclusion.
Women at the center of water—but not governance
Across Rajasthan, women’s daily routines revolve around water. In many rural communities, they walk long distances to collect it, sometimes making several trips a day. A case study cited in the review describes women travelling three times daily, spending between 50 and 77 minutes per trip fetching water depending on seasonal availability.
This labour extends far beyond simple collection. Women are responsible for storing water, ensuring its quality, allocating it between domestic uses and livestock, and adapting consumption practices during drought. Their decisions determine whether households can cook, bathe, irrigate small gardens, or maintain hygiene.
Under extreme scarcity, women have developed ingenious coping strategies. Traditional practices documented in Rajasthan include cleaning utensils with hot sand to minimise water use, bathing on string cots so that water absorbed in the rope can be reused, and carefully managing household consumption to stretch limited supplies.
Such practices represent a deep reservoir of experiential knowledge. Yet the review finds that this knowledge rarely informs water policy. Instead, most water governance frameworks treat water as a purely technical resource—something to be measured, pumped, distributed, and priced. Policies emphasise infrastructure, hydrology, and supply-demand management while ignoring the social relationships and cultural practices through which water is actually managed on the ground. The result is a profound policy–practice disconnect.
The illusion of gender neutrality
A key finding of the review is how policy language shapes water governance. Rajasthan’s State Water Policy of 2010 mentions women only twice, and only as users of water. This choice of words is important. By treating women as beneficiaries instead of stakeholders, policies promote a technical view of water management where authority lies with engineers, administrators, and planners, not with those who manage water daily. A similar pattern is seen at the national level. India’s National Water Policy refers to women mainly during project implementation. They are again described as beneficiaries rather than decision makers, which limits their role in shaping water governance.
Participation without real power
Even programmes that promote community participation often follow the same approach. Schemes such as Jal Jeevan Mission and Atal Bhujal Yojana require women to be part of village water committees. However, the review shows that this representation rarely leads to real influence over planning or design decisions. As a result, participation often becomes symbolic rather than meaningful. Researchers describe this as token participation, where women are included in institutions but do not have real authority or decision-making power.
The multiple burdens women carry
The unequal role of women in water governance is linked to deeper social structures. Across rural South Asia, women carry what researchers call a triple burden. They manage domestic work, take part in income-earning activities, and support community-level resource management at the same time. Water connects all these responsibilities. Women collect water for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. They also use it for small-scale farming, caring for livestock, and running home-based work. At the community level, they help maintain wells, tanks, and traditional water harvesting systems.
Despite this, their work is often not recognised in economic or policy discussions. When water governance systems ignore women’s contributions, their role and influence within households and communities become weaker. The effects go beyond physical effort. Water scarcity also affects education and health. Studies show that girls often miss school because they must help collect water, especially in drought-prone areas where sources are far away. In some places, women face physical strain, illness, or even violence while collecting water. Water points can also become places of conflict, especially when families and livestock owners compete for limited water.
Intersectionality: The missing lens
Another critical gap identified in the paper is the absence of intersectional analysis in water governance research in Rajasthan. Intersectionality, the idea that gender interacts with caste, class, ethnicity, and geography to shape people’s experiences, has been widely used in global gender studies. Yet it remains largely absent from water policy analysis in India.
In many villages, access to water is influenced by caste hierarchies. Dalit communities may be excluded from certain wells or forced to rely on distant sources. Dalit women, therefore, face multiple layers of marginalisation: as women and as members of lower castes.
Ignoring these dynamics can lead to poorly designed policies. Infrastructure projects that provide water points without addressing social power structures may inadvertently reinforce inequalities. For example, a new community well might technically improve water availability but remain inaccessible to marginalised households due to local norms. Without intersectional analysis, policymakers risk misunderstanding how water actually flows through society.
When women lead
Despite systemic exclusion, the review also highlights examples where women have successfully shaped water governance. In Alwar district, women played a key role in reviving traditional rainwater harvesting structures. They mobilised labour, selected sites, organised construction, and ensured equitable distribution of water benefits. Such initiatives demonstrate that women are not merely passive users but capable managers of complex water systems.
Similarly, community-based organisations in Rajasthan have shown that when women participate meaningfully in water projects, outcomes improve. Women’s involvement often enhances maintenance of infrastructure, promotes equitable distribution, and strengthens local accountability. The lesson is clear: women’s knowledge and leadership are not optional additions to water governance; they are essential components.
Why the gap persists
If the evidence is so compelling, why does the policy-practice gap persist?
Part of the answer lies in how water governance is conceptualised. Most policies are designed through technocratic frameworks dominated by engineers and hydrologists. Social dynamics receive less attention. Another factor is institutional inertia. Policy processes often rely on standardised templates that prioritise infrastructure delivery over participatory governance.
Finally, patriarchal social norms continue to shape institutional structures. Even when women are formally included in committees, cultural expectations may limit their participation in discussions or decision-making. Changing this requires not only policy reform but also shifts in institutional culture.
A blueprint for gender-responsive water governance
The review offers a series of recommendations that could reshape water governance in Rajasthan and beyond.
Integrate women into policy formulation: Women must be included not only in implementation committees but also in policy design and consultation processes. This requires deliberate institutional mechanisms, such as mandatory representation in policy advisory bodies.
Document local knowledge: Women’s everyday water practices, storage techniques, conservation methods, and coping strategies should be systematically documented and integrated into planning. This knowledge can improve resilience in water-scarce regions.
Adopt intersectional policy frameworks: Policies must recognise that water access is shaped by multiple social factors, including caste, class, and geography. Gender-disaggregated and caste-disaggregated data collection should become standard practice.
Strengthen capacity building: Women’s participation requires more than representation. Training in technical, financial, and managerial aspects of water governance can empower women to engage effectively in decision-making.
Shift from infrastructure to governance: Water programmes must move beyond infrastructure delivery to address governance structures, power relations, and social inclusion.
Support community-led water systems: Traditional water harvesting systems in Rajasthan, such as johads and tankas, offer valuable lessons in community-based water management. Women’s involvement in these systems should be institutionalised.
Align Gender and Water Goals: Policy frameworks should explicitly link gender equality (SDG 5) with water management (SDG 6), ensuring that progress in one domain reinforces the other.
Lessons for India’s water future
The findings of this research are relevant far beyond Rajasthan. Across India, water scarcity is increasing due to climate change, groundwater depletion, and rising demand. Large programmes such as Jal Jeevan Mission are investing heavily in rural water infrastructure.
However, infrastructure alone cannot solve water insecurity. Sustainable water management requires understanding how communities actually use and manage water. In many parts of rural India, women are the primary managers of water. Ignoring this reality risks repeating past mistakes, where systems work in theory but fail on the ground.
From invisible roles to leadership
Water in Rajasthan is also a story of resilience. For generations, women have managed scarcity with skill and persistence. Yet their knowledge and experience are rarely included in decision-making or policy processes. Closing this gap is not only about fairness. It is essential for effective water management. The study shows that including women in water governance can lead to more sustainable and equitable outcomes.
In regions where every drop matters, overlooking the knowledge of those who handle water daily is no longer an option. The future of water management in Rajasthan, and across India, depends on recognising women not just as managers but as decision-makers.