The working group is led by Bernadette Resurreccion from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. Email: babette@ait.ac.th
Purpose and Approach
This theme explores the social justice challenge of reducing differences in access to opportunities, resources, rights, involuntary risks and sharing of benefits through changing the form of engagement in water governance. We focus our attention on issues of gender, ethnicity and class in a variety of water governance contexts such as in hydropower development, flood management, water supply and sanitation, irrigation and fisheries throughout the Mekong Region.
The theme could explore the conditions and terms under which socially vulnerable groups in the region, such as migrants, urban slum dwellers, small-scale fishers and landless farmers and particular ethnic groups – as stakeholders – participate in the governance of water resources as well as the consequences of their participation for their well-being, especially health and food security. It asks whether their gender, ethnicity and class serve to differentiate, enable or constrain their participation in decision-making over water governance and management issues. For example, how is the formation of water user groups for irrigation management redressing social gaps in decision making? Are women and men able to make crucial decisions on equal terms? Are the benefits of participation worthwhile and do they translate into well-being for all involved? What are the barriers to this?
The theme also interrogates the actual benefits of water allocation and governance mechanisms to these socially vulnerable groups. For example, is hydropower development disrupting flood management in downstream deltaic areas where most ethnic and female farmers make a living through small-scale rice production? Are rural migrants in the Tonle Sap region the most disadvantaged by putting in place governance mechanisms such as community fisheries?
Finally, one other concern of the social justice theme is to examine the material and non-material conditions that lead to and perpetuate the marginalization process of certain groups, which include political, economic and discursive means that render women as secondary in society, or place some groups as majority over minority populations.
The social justice challenge is not just a question of process, but also one of outcomes and impacts on livelihoods of marginalized groups. Action research needs to identify existing inequalities and their nature -- and then work to improve outcomes and redress benefit and power gaps for the disadvantaged.
Social justice questions
How are the livelihoods of vulnerable peoples affected by the use and management of water resources by other more powerful groups?
Under what terms and conditions are women, ethnic minorities, and other socially vulnerable groups engaging in water governance?
To what extent do procedures perceived to be fair and just increase the acceptability of differentiated outcomes? How can outcomes for disadvantaged groups be improved? How can their share of benefits, compensation and access to resources be increased? How can exposures to involuntary risks and factors that undermine livelihood resilience be reduced?
Selected Publications
Series Nos.
Title
MP-2010-01
Resurreccion BP (2010). 'Embedded essentialism': Persistent women, nature and environment linkages in climate change and sustainable development agendas. M-POWER Working Paper MP-2010-01. Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Chiang Mai University, Thailand. (495)
MP-2009-05
Bastakoti, G. B., S. Rattanawilailak, T. T. Trieu, R. C. Bastakoti, and L. Lebel. 2009. Gender, water insecurities and conflict in the Mekong region. M-POWER Working Paper MP-2009-05. Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Chiang Mai University, Thailand. (459)
MP-2007-03
Resurreccion B P. 2007.Gender, Legitimacy and Patronage-Driven Participation: Fisheries Management in the Tonle Sap Great Lake, Cambodia.M-POWER Working Paper MP-2007-03. Unit for Social and Environmental Research, Chiang Mai University: Chiang Mai. (361)
Selected Events
Dates
Event, venue and organizers
18 Jul 07 - 21 Jul 07
The GWA Regional Workshop on Strategic Planning for Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Pacific for Mainstreaming Gender in IWRM. Bangkok, Thailand.(M-POWER, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT))
(124)
Selected Websites
TWAS - The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World
Promotes scientific excellence for sustainable development in the developing world. Helped establish and continues to support networks for women in science and other networks and panels. Website has many documents and reports. (26)
GWA - Gender and Water Alliance
Promotes women's and men's equitable access to and management of safe and adequate water. Multi-language site contains publications, event lists and other directories. (42)
GenderCC - Gender & climate change
Informal network encouraging gender mainstreaming in the UNFCCC negotiations. Website provides downloads of relevant reports and links to other relevant organizations. (73)
GenaNet - Gender, Environment, Sustainability
Project of the organization LIFE based in Berlin. Germany tha promotes environmental protection and equal opportunities for women and men in skilled trades, science and technology. Website has links to other projects and networks, mostly with a European focus. (74)
