Women and the production of Water

It is clear that nowadays women are mainly considered as water consumers and lack power as influential actors within water-based management. However historically, women have had a strong contributing role in the provision of water, and Page (2005:2) states they are in fact "the makers of modern water supplies." Therefore we shouldn't disempower and exclude the contributions women have made historically towards the production of water.

I found it interesting how he provides an insight towards the historical aspects of women's participation within water supplies in Cameroon. Even though women have been minor participants in the engineering of water supplies, they have historically played a role in the decision-making process, through rituals of resistance and protests, in order to express their own interests. For example, women protested against the governments attempt to close down public taps and charge for access to water. In addition some of the more traditional protests involved nudity, and aimed to insult and challenge the men in charge. Ardener (1975: 43) states "when the women of Cameroon subject a man to such a display they demonstrate that they no longer recognize his power to elicit conformity."

Therefore even though women have historically had low status, they have had sustained enough power to influence the production and management of water.

Shiva (1998:209) also argues that for centuries before colonial times, women were water managers, but it was Western influence and industrialisation that replaced women with male-dominated managerial systems. It has also been further exacerbated by modernisation and privatisation, reinforcing this hierarchical power structure.  

Page therefore (2005) attests that in order to sustain the argument that women have generally been neglected from decision-making processes within water management, we need to highlight the differences between past and present times. By looking into past water activities, it also helps us understand the main predominant factors over the decades that have made the situation acute and how one can implement future strategies to gender balance water management. I overall agree that in order to empower women even more so, we should "publicise their achievements in places like Tombel" and give women the support to get involved and reclaim water rights (Page, 2005:24) (Singh, 1998).

Page, B. (2005). Naked Power: Women and the social production of water in Anglophone Cameroon,

In Coles, A., Wallace, T. (Eds.), Gender, water and Development. (pp. 57-74). Oxford: Berg.
Shiva. V (1988) Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development, Zed Books