Gender Transformative Impacts from Watershed Interventions: Insights from a Mixed-Methods Study in the Bundelkhand Region of India

Abstract

HighlightsSocial and technical interventions related to agriculture, watersheds, and capacity building should enhance women’s awareness, access, and decision-making role in agrarian communities.Strict gender norms and relations hinder the empowerment of women in the Bundelkhand region and prevent women from participating in the decision-making process at the household, farm, and community level.When implementing watershed projects in a highly patriarchal context, as in the Bundelkhand region, advocacy of behavioral change communication must be implemented, addressing the diverse needs of women and men.Strengthening of systematic and gender-sensitive institution building, social engagement, and capacity development for global water security is needed for sustainable watershed interventions.ABSTRACT. This study examined gender perspectives on water security by exploring an integrated water management approach for agriculture, livestock, and human consumption. The data were generated in a watershed project to enhance drought resilience of farming through groundwater recharge and agroforestry interventions in the water-scarce Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh in central India. Post-intervention, a quantitative survey and qualitative gender and social analysis tools were applied to understand the benefits of the interventions for women, men, and the community as a whole. Quantitative data were collected from 700 individuals in five villages (three treatment villages and two villages where watershed interventions were not implemented). In addition, 33 semi-structured interviews and eight focus group discussions were conducted to understand local gender norms at the project sites. Data analysis revealed that the community benefits accrued from the watershed interventions included increased crop productivity and diversification of agriculture and livelihoods. However, strict patriarchal norms restricted the visibility, mobility, and communication of women within the household and community during the interventions. Considering gender diversity, this study identifies that women can benefit from participating in watershed interventions and provides a deeper understanding of the constraints and barriers to women’s participation in such projects, including economic, social, and cultural factors. The construction of check dams reduced women’s time per day for fetching water by about 29%. Groundwater level increases reduced the effort required of women to draw water from open wells and hand pumps. Female education is a significant factor related to the benefits of watershed interventions, and regression analysis indicated that households with higher levels of education of adult women were significantly more likely to benefit from the interventions than other households. To avoid perpetuation of the exclusion of diverse local knowledge and gender inequality at the community level, mechanisms must be developed and adjusted continuously such that whole communities, including men and women, are empowered to participate in the decision-making process at various levels and for different purposes. When implementing watershed projects in a highly patriarchal context, as in the Bundelkhand region where women are hidden behind the strong presence of men, advocacy of behavioral change communication must be implemented regularly. The community needs to be sensitized toward systematic and gender-sensitive institution building, social engagement, and capacity development for local as well as global water security. Keywords: Bundelkhand region, Gender, Social norms, Transformative, Watershed intervention.

Water, Sanitation, and Women’s Empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis

“…181 (70%) articles engaged at least two of the empowerment domains; 113 (44%) engaged all three (Supplemental Figure 1). (n = 53) Abu 2019; 62 Aguilar 2005; 49 Akolgo 2020; 63 Aladuwaka 2010; 42 Assaad 1994; 64 Bastidas 2005; 65 Bastola 2015; 66 Bhandari 2009; 67 Bisung 2014; 68 Boateng 2013a; 69 Boateng 2013b; 70 Cairns 2017; 58 Carmi 2019; 71 Chipeta 2009; 72 Clement 2018; 43 Coulter 2018; 73 Crow 2012; 74 Das 2014; 75 Devasia 1998a; 76 79 Gate 2001; 80 Ge 2011; 81 Grant 2019; 29 Harris 2017; 82 James 2002; 53 Leahy 2017; 44 Lebel 2015; 83 Leder 2017; 45 Mandara 2013; 84 Mandara 2017; 85 Mason 2012; 86 Mehta 2015; 87 Naiga 2017; 88 O'Reilly 2006; 55 Padmaja 2020; 89 Prokopy 2004; 90 Sijbesma 2009; 91 Singh 2006b; 92 Singh 2018; 93 Stevenson 2012; 94 Sultana 2009a; 95 Sultana 2009b; 96 Thai 2019; 97 Torri 2010; 61 Tortajada 2003;…”

“…(n = 34) Adrianessens 2019; 249 Azeez 2019; 114 Caruso 2017a; 224 Corburn 2015; 225 Corburn 2016; 226 ; Czerniewska 2019; 117 Hirai 2016; 120 Joshi 2018; 159 Khanna 2016; 121 Kulkarni 2017; 160 Kwiringira 2014; 172 Lee 2017; 122 Mohankumar 2017; 124 Oluyemo 2012; 56 O'Reilly 2010; 48 O'Reilly 2014; 140 Pardeshi 2009; 125 Prasad 2015; 282 Prasad 2018; 283 Rajaraman 2013*; 236 Reddy 2011; 212 Reddy 2019; 213 Routray 2017b; 110 Halvorson 2004; 104 Harris 2017; 82 Ilahi 2000; 281 Irianti 2019; 288 James 2002; 53 Joshi 2012; 203 Karim 2012; 246 Kher 2015; 230 Krumdieck 2016; 188 Lebel 2015; 83 Leder 2017; 45 MacRae 2019*; 164 Makoni 2004; 106 Mandara 2013; 84 Mason 2012; 86 Mbatha 2011; 206 McMahon 2011*; 207 Mehretu 1992; 263 Mehta 2015; 87 Mushavi 2020; 151 Narain 2014; 265 Nerkar 2013; 152 Oluyemo 2012; 56 Padmaja 2020; 89 Pommells 2018;…”

“…Demographic factors, like class, caste, education, marital status, and age have been found to be influential. 45,61,67,70,84,85,89,92,95,101,102,108,111 Various social factors constrain women's involvement, like household responsibilities that conflict with meetings; 61,62,67,69,75,88,97,101,112,119,179 women's ability to attend but not speak or influence decisions; 61,65,[100][101][102]112 fear, shyness, and lack of confidence compounded by social norms limiting attendance or ability to speak in front of men; 47,58,61,62,65,67,69,75,81,83,88,95,97,101,109,112,118,…”

“…29 Perceived limited knowledge has inhibited women's participation in community decision-making bodies, collective action, and WASH businesses, or advantaged more educated women. 29,60,62,65,67,68,70,83,[88][89][90] Women reported acquiring knowledge from other women at public meetings about water issues (Vietnam 97 ) and from close friends about WASH activities (Indonesia 52 ).…”

Building climate resilience in degraded agricultural landscapes through water management: A case study of Bundelkhand region, Central India

“…Bundelkhand has a high incidence of poverty (30-55% in different districts); low literacy rate (57% overall, 43% in women); and highly vulnerable women and landless people (Varua et al, 2018;Mitra and Rao, 2019;Padmaja et al, 2020).…”