1. What should we be asking to understand gender dynamics in agricultural water management?
Sophie Theis, March 9, 2016
Photo credit: IWMI Flickr, Ghana, 2011; Passarelli, Ghana, 2015

2. “There is nothing stopping women from accessing irrigation water”

3. “If the household benefits, women in the household benefit”

4. “Women primarily need water for domestic uses”

5. Overcoming gender blindness in the water sector
Gender Responsive
Gender Transformative
Principle of “Do no harm”
A lot of water projects are gender-blind, with women’s role in water use not recognized, or assumed only in domestic water. The previous statements represent a gender-blind mentality which assumes that women are automatically included equally to men. They also assume that women are NOT harmed – but how can you know without examining women’s work load and control over resources?
No such thing as gender neutral
What we want to encourage with this checklist is to help people overcome gender blindness to “see” gender. This means recognizing the differences between men and women’s roles, opportunities, preferences, and risks.
We know this, but there is a lot of issues that are specific to people who have worked at the grassroots in communities, so there is much to be gained by sharing our knowledge.
We need to help others “see” gender
Gender responsive projects recognize gender roles and norms and at best, “gender transformative” projects seek to shift gender roles and norms to reduce gender inequality
In keeping with the fundamental development framework of “Do No Harm”, gender integrated programs should also be careful to avoid risks to women, e.g. if women’s empowerment backfires and increases GBV

6. To “do” gender, need to “see” gender
Gender mainstreaming is increasingly recognized as important, but what does this mean in practice?
To get to the right actions and solutions, need to ask the right questions

7. Intention of the checklist
Intended to help identify the main gender issues related to agricultural water management in a given setting
Can be used in participatory community diagnostic to gather information for research or project design; turned into indicators for M&E; guide implementation (think through possible consequences)
Based on ILSSI qualitative research and consultations with experts, but still evolving, needs your feedback
Make it country-specific

8. Five Sections of the Checklist
Community-level: How effective are current water sources and technologies meeting people’s different needs for water?
Household-level: How are decisions made over household and farm-level water use?
Access to technology: How do constraints in access to water technologies differ between groups of people?
Water governance: How are decisions over water use made within communities and above communities?
Impacts of irrigation: How do the impacts and benefits of agricultural water management practices affect people differently?
Go back to this slide and have people choose a section
Later on we will ask you to discuss and suggest feedback on a specific section in a small group, so choose a section to focus on that most interests you

9. Checklist Structure

11. Other checklists and guidance
Checklists for gender and agriculture are limited with respect to water:
International Fund for Agricultural Development Manual for Gender-Focused Field Diagnostic Studies
An International Food Policy Research Institute checklist developed for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Gender and water guidance:
Gender and Agriculture Sourcebook, chapter on gender and agricultural water management 
UN World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) Gender-sensitive indicators project, but relatively more developed WASH than productive uses
Gender and Water Alliance resources

12. Gender integration framework – fill something out like a worksheet