In my views and experiences in Rajasthan (India), first you have to focus on the traditional approach and strategies. Then you step ahead with the further strategy............. apply outside strategy only when you don't find the traditional ones.

You could also visit www.genderandwater,org to learn more......

Just this morning I scanned through a report written by Coleen Morna for the SA Department of Water Affairs, called 'Mainstreaming gender in water and sanitation" (available online at http://www.gdrc.org/uem/water/gender/genderingwatersanitation.pdf) - there might be useful ideas in there.

Example from rural Nepal can be considered where formation of user group with a heavy presence of (or led by) women is in practice in forestry management and literacy programs in community.

In my view the best approach is make a water user association by involving women . They have to make their own decisions on water use and conservation . I make such association in District Sahiwal , Punjab Pakistan during my service in water management 1980 this association is still working their very successfully and efficiently.

I agree with Triq Nazir for his reply.

Jordan is one of the poorest countries in water resources. This fact puts women under a lot of pressure to economize in water use for domestic purposes. In some parts of the country we have water running in pipes only once a week., in what you may call 'water ration'. I don't think women were part of this policy nor they were asked or participated in planning this ration policy. By not involving them we may be ignoring a big portion of the population who may contribute to saving or 'over spending' this very valuable resource on earth. It never came to my mind until you raised this issue, thanks for raising our awareness for women's part on this matter

While the role of gender in resource management (not just water) is important, it's important to keep in mind that this is a bit of a bridge topic between two areas of study (i.e. gender studies and water resource management).

The topic could also be phrased along the lines of "How to encourage women to participate more fully in engineering sciences?" Or "How to encourage gender equality in the management of resources on a local scale or a national scale?"

At the heart of it all is culture, and it is important to keep womens roles in the culture in mind when discussing these questions... and hard to consider an approach that might work well for all cultures everywhere.

If you're looking specifically at water resources in Zambia, and examining women's roles in Zambian culture in the context of water resource management, then your approach should be specifically tailored to that topic, with a clear definition of goals etc.

For example (and I'm speaking hypothetically, as I know nothing about women's roles in Zambian culture), if women are typically responsible for getting water from a nearby well, one way to empower those women, would be to consider basing policy etc. on surveys conducted at the wells (where there might be mostly women)... This approach might not work in Israel, or the UK, where the approach would likely be more along the lines of encouraging equality in water resource management studies and hiring practices...

Thanks to all of you for the great discussion!

I absolutely agree with Cameron's point: solutions should be tailored to each country and, possibly, to each specific reality within the country. Nonetheless, it is important to investigate and recognize some "golden rules", so to say, that could be successfully applied to any context. As Tariq pointed out, the existence of WUAs could be the solution but our data showed that it does not really work (yet?). In our sample, about 10% of the men interviewed are members of a WUA, but only 0.3% of the women... and none of the women declare to participate effectively in the decisions. Why this, I was wandering? How to encourage participation? Is it possible at all, without subverting the traditional social norms? Jyoti, how did women’s participation in forestry management exactly work in Nepal?

I also share with you some “best practices” from Kenya: http://j.mp/LQAjHH The situation (low women participation in the water sector is similar to Zambia, but some action has been taken on gender mainstreaming: what do you think about it?

I agree with Cameron's comment, and his spin on "How to encourage women to participate more fully in engineering sciences?" Any thoughts in Canadian context?

First and formost thing is to create awareness among women about water resource mangement is an important factor for empowerment. Through SHG we may build the capasity of women and it is very cost effective channel for dissemination of information.

Don't put men out of the picture, Banana union workers in Honduras is a great example. Today, women share high ranks positions in strategic levels, these workers have placed women's concern at the centre of union’s issues and change the vision that ‘union was for men only’. Latino America has a homogeneous culture, but you can see some changes with education and support of men.

In India it may be question to enrich the vote bank

i have worked extensively in rural areas of india and done some experiments on women's access to natural resources like water. as women do not own land creating their access to water in case of agriculture is very difficult. many demonstrations are done in India. regarding drinking water some projects were taken in India where women are involved in management of drinking water projects. but success rate is limited. reviews of laws creating access to resources will be also useful.

dr. anjali kulkarni

Pune , India

I am not sure if African men for instance indeed reduce the participation of women in water usage. I say so because by and large women are the ones who collect water for domestic uses. I do not see a reason on why men can deliberately stop women from accessing water. What I can say is that most men oppress women on who collects the water. It is mostly women who collect water and then once is in the home, men use that water when they did not play any role in fetching it. It is also the same when men and women come from cultivating the fields. The man will under a tree and sleeps while the woman is looking for firewood to cook. And yet both were doing the same work and are tired. So for me it is not about women being refused access to water. It is how it is fetched from the well or river that should be considered. It is all about gender inequality. Gender dynamics which are unbalanced.