“Whose job is it to fetch water?” Understanding the role of gender in access to water for domestic use in Kapau, Zambia

Access to water is understood as the ability to derive benefits from water for a given condition and in a particular situation. However, the benefits (or lack thereof) are reaped differently by men, women and children. The gendered norms thereby play a critical role in the division of labour. The voices which represent these issues also embody such ‘gendered’ differences. Therefore, the objective of this research was to examine the role of gender to access water for domestic consumption, specifically within the existing institutional arrangements of Kapau, Western Province in Zambia. The paper dissects these very institutions which affect meaningful participation of individuals in regards to access to water. Cleaver and Hamada (2010) provided a framework to analyse the gendered concerns of water governance arrangements. Using this approach, this study explores the actors’ ‘room to manoeuvre’ in negotiating with societal norms and practices, thereby aiding in investigating the research question – How are arrangements to water access for domestic use gendered? This framework follows the scholarship of Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) which explicates how gendered norms, relations, identities, are prevalent in “determining water access, collection, use, and management”. I have practised the approach of “being there” for 78 days in Kapau, to perform deep dive research in order to engage in daily life and micro-politics that aids in contemplating contextual realities. This was undertaken with phenomenological interviewing and visual sociology to conduct qualitative research for over 50 individuals, maintaining journals and through documentary photography. Hence, in this thesis, I refrained from making any universal claims on its applicability. The research is all about my relationship with the researched. It was the negotiation and contestation of my situated knowledge with theirs. This research looked at how gendered norms affect access to bore well water. Access was realised as control of labour and voice exercised. Control of labour was further studied as mobilizing labour of others and working for others. The ability to control labour was shaped by prevailing institutions. In my case this was manifested through three institutions – i) religious faith - Christianity; ii) cultural practices such as lobola (dowry/bride price), and iii) kitchen party. Determinants like distance, sense of time and accessories (like buckets, ox -carts and sledges) too were influenced by institutions of the place which affected deriving of benefits from bore well water. Voice is understood as ‘ability to contribute to change’. The ability was further explored by examining ‘what is being conveyed’ and ‘by whom’. The articulation of concerns by different individuals, and their further representation were implicitly governed by institutions which gendered the water-related issues, therefore affecting the voice. The differential agency exercised also impacted individuals’ degree to participate and contribute to the change. Both aspects – control of labour, and voice exercised, eventually affected the bargaining power of the individuals. My research demonstrated the direct correlation between labour, voice and access. The routinized practices which the cultural doctrine instituted were realised through aspects of care, altruism, fear and respect. These emotionalities that governed the access further attested the deeply internalised form of oppression. FPE ideology aided in demonstrating such contestations among these relations and dissecting the unequal terrain of the social landscape at a local scale. The research elucidates how the power geometries were reinforced by an everyday object – the bore well