Unravelling gendered practices in Nepal's public water sector

Among other social identities, gender is one of the most critical determinants of how an individual’s relationship is shaped with the rest of society. In the 1990s, gender equality began to make its way onto international agendas governing one of the most important resources for human survival – water. This was a formidable step forward in acknowledging gender as a legitimate policy issue in the water sector. It recognized that although water is often viewed as a guaranteed human right necessary for survival, access and availability is often unequally distributed based on how an individual identifies themselves.

Although strides have been made across the globe to increase gender equality in water access, these efforts have not profoundly challenged existing gendered patterns of water management in South Asia. A reason for this is that the processes and factors that create gaps between policy intentions and actionable outcomes are complicated and intertwined. Water injustices attributed to gender often intersect with other social markers such as caste, ethnicity, class or age…