IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iwt/jounls/h051576.html

Irrigation systems management in Nepal: women’s strategies in response to migration-induced challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Suhardiman, Diana
  • Raut, Manita
  • Pradhan, P.
  • Meinzen-Dick, R.

Abstract

Large-scale male outmigration has placed new pressures on both men and women, especially regarding labour division in farm households and involvement in Water Users Associations (WUAs). This paper illustrates how the interplay between existing gender norms, male migration, remittances, and alternative sources of male labour influence women’s agency and WUA decision-making processes in Nepal. Despite official quotas aimed at promoting women’s participation in WUAs, some women prefer to monetise membership contributions rather than actively engage with the organisation. Others pursue strategic interests through changing WUA rules and, in the process, bringing about an adjustment of cultural norms. Women’s agency is derived not only from their knowledge of irrigation systems features and their ability to manage them; it is also related to their ability to learn new organisational skills and to apply them in the WUA context to negotiate and mobilise rules and resources. Women (re)shape their WUA involvement in conjunction with their farming strategies, their view of the WUA’s functionality, and whether they perceive the involvement as either an opportunity for productive engagement or as merely an increase in their already heavy workload.

Suggested Citation

  • Suhardiman, Diana & Raut, Manita & Pradhan, P. & Meinzen-Dick, R., 2023. "Irrigation systems management in Nepal: women’s strategies in response to migration-induced challenges," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 16(1):1-21..
    • Handle: RePEc:iwt:jounls:h051576
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol16/v16issue1/687-a16-1-4/file
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Margreet Zwarteveen, 1998. "Gendered participation in water management: Issues and illustrations from water users‘ associations in South Asia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 15(4), pages 337-345, December.
    2. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S. & Brown, Lynn R. & Feldstein, Hilary Sims & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 1997. "Gender, property rights, and natural resources," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1303-1315, August.
    3. Bromley, D.W. & Cernea, M.M., 1989. "The Management Of Common Property Natural Resources - Some Conceptual And Operational Fallacies," World Bank - Discussion Papers 57, World Bank.
    4. Pradhan, P., 1989. "Patterns of irrigation organization in Nepal: a comparative study of 21 farmer-managed irrigation systems," IWMI Books, Reports H005910, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Subramanian, A. & Jagannathan, N.V. & Meinzen-Dick, R., 1997. "User Organizations for Sustainable Water Services," Papers 354, World Bank - Technical Papers.
    6. van Koppen, Barbara, 2002. "A gender performance indicator for irrigation: Concepts, tools and applications," IWMI Research Reports 44562, International Water Management Institute.
    7. Agarwal, Bina, 2001. "Participatory Exclusions, Community Forestry, and Gender: An Analysis for South Asia and a Conceptual Framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(10), pages 1623-1648, October.
    8. Rebecca Elmhirst, 2002. "Daughters and Displacement: Migration Dynamics in an Indonesian Transmigration Area," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(5), pages 143-166.
    9. Haiyan Yu, 2016. "Can water users’ associations improve water governance in China? A tale of two villages in the Shiyang River basin," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(7), pages 966-981, November.
    10. Elinor Ostrom, 2000. "Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 137-158, Summer.
    11. Van Koppen, B., 2002. "A gender performance indicator for irrigation: Concepts, tools and applications," IWMI Research Reports H029556, International Water Management Institute.
    12. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    13. Shrestha, Gitta & Clement, Floriane, 2019. "Unravelling gendered practices in the public water sector in Nepal," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 21(5):1017-.
    14. Zwarteveen, Margreet Z., 1997. "Water: From basic need to commodity: A discussion on gender and water rights in the context of irrigation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1335-1349, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giordano, Meredith A. & Samad, Madar & Namara, Regassa E., 2006. "Assessing the outcomes of IWMI’s research and interventions on irrigation management transfer," IWMI Research Reports 44524, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Leder, S. & Shrestha, Gitta & Das, D., . "Transformative engagements with gender relations in agriculture and water governance," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 5(1):128-15.
    3. Barbara Schreiner & Ndileka Mohapi & Barbara Van Koppen, 2004. "Washing away poverty: Water, democracy and gendered poverty eradication in South Africa," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(3), pages 171-178, August.
    4. Patrick Bottazzi & David Crespo & Harry Soria & Hy Dao & Marcelo Serrudo & Jean Paul Benavides & Stefan Schwarzer & Stephan Rist, 2014. "Carbon Sequestration in Community Forests: Trade-offs, Multiple Outcomes and Institutional Diversity in the Bolivian Amazon," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 105-131, January.
    5. R Parthasarathy, 2011. "Objects and Accomplishments of Participatory Irrigation Management Programme in India: An Open Pair of Scissors," Working Papers id:4420, eSocialSciences.
    6. Annemarie Westendorp & Leontine Visser, 2015. "Farmer Field Schools: Unexpected Outcomes of Gendered Empowerment in Wartime Nepal," Journal of Asian Development, Macrothink Institute, vol. 1(1), pages 1-22, October.
    7. Nandigama, Sailaja, 2020. "Performance of success and failure in grassroots conservation and development interventions: Gender dynamics in participatory forest management in India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. Mercy Mwambi & Jos Bijman & Patience Mshenga, 2020. "Which type of producer organization is (more) inclusive? Dynamics of farmers’ membership and participation in the decision‐making process," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(2), pages 213-236, June.
    9. Castillo, G. E. & Namara, Regassa & Ravnborg, H. M. & Hanjra, M. A. & Smith, L. & Hussein, M. H. & Bene, Christopher & Cook, S. & Hirsch, D. & Polak, P. & Valee, Domitille & van Koppen, Barbara, 2007. "Reversing the flow: agricultural water management pathways for poverty reduction," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    10. Barrero-Amórtegui, Yady & Maldonado, Jorge H., 2021. "Gender composition of management groups in a conservation agreement framework: Experimental evidence for mangrove use in the Colombian Pacific," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    11. Dawn D. Cheong & Bettina Bock & Dirk Roep, 2024. "Unpacking gender mainstreaming: a critical discourse analysis of agricultural and rural development policy in Myanmar and Nepal," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(2), pages 599-613, June.
    12. Kaaria, Susan & Osorio, Martha & Wagner, Sophie & Gallina, Ambra, 2016. "Rural women’s participation in producer organizations: An analysis of the barriers that women face and strategies to foster equitable and effective participation," Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender), Africa Centre for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment, vol. 1(02).
    13. Namara, Regassa E. & Hope, Lesley & Sarpong, Eric Owusu & De Fraiture, Charlotte & Owusu, Diana, 2014. "Adoption patterns and constraints pertaining to small-scale water lifting technologies in Ghana," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 194-203.
    14. Ngigi, Marther W. & Okello, Julius J., 2013. "Gender differentiated motivation for coastal forest conservation: the case of Lower Tana River Forest," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161467, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    15. Cook, Nathan J. & Karna, Birendra K. & Steinberg, Jessica & Torrens, Gustavo, 2025. "Ostromian institutions and violence: Community forestry and Nepal’s civil war," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    16. Wang, Yahua & Chen, Chunliang & Araral, Eduardo, 2016. "The Effects of Migration on Collective Action in the Commons: Evidence from Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 79-93.
    17. Buisson, Marie-Charlotte & Clement, Floriane & Leder, Stephanie, 2021. "Women's Empowerment and the Will to Change," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315352, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Sudha Narayanan & Marzia Fontana & Erin Lentz & Bharati Kulkarni, 2019. "Rural women's empowerment in nutrition: a proposal for diagnostics linking food, health and institutions," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2019-003, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    19. Susan M. Cuddy & Sanju Koirala & Shahriar Wahid & David J. Penton, 2025. "Measuring How Water‐Related Policies of the Global South Consider Gender: Insights From Trialling a New Policy Gender Index in Nepal," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), September.
    20. Lambrecht, Isabel Brigitte, 2016. "“As a Husband I Will Love, Lead, and Provide.” Gendered Access to Land in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 188-200.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iwt:jounls:h051576. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chandima Gunadasa (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwmiclk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.