Naming and framing women’s involvement in water management: a paradigm shift to economic development

International audienceOver the last 30 years, the reality of water has been quite alarming despite the vital importance of water for lives and for life. Promoting access to water has become a way to guarantee access to economic development. Many funding agencies, global UN conferences and media have constructed their discourse on the promise of a paradigm shift to giving all individuals in the world, the right to water. In this frame, women have been perceived and portrayed as important mediators and key players to implement changes to our economic and social organisations. More broadly, gender perspectives have been used by development programs to improve water management. The participation of stakeholders has been depicted as a renewed water governance to address poverty and underdevelopment. Communication campaigns framed priorities and strategies that involve women to promote positive impacts based on a logic of results. By naming and framing a new paradigm shift based on the participation of women, the discourse of water and women has set driving forces to review water resource management, water sciences, and several other applications. It also structured media in their work and orientation to cover debates such as water crises and wars; water pricing; construction of dams; corruption and transparency; climate change and extreme events; etc. This study aims to establish how naming and framing processes of women’s involvement in water management and economic development have impacted the general discourses of global organisations. At the local scale, this study questions the impacts of global actions and discourses; perceptions from end-users; and the importance of cultural, social and community structures when setting participatory communication and programmes. Our approach is based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of key, water and gender related themes in UN Declarations and Statements from 1972 until 2012. The discourse analysis of key terms was complemented by a qualitative description of the use of key words. We also conducted symbolic, semiotics and rhetoric analysis and a detailed examination of communication campaigns implemented by international organisations such as the UN organisations on the specific topic of water and women over the last 10 years. We complemented our work with a case study in Lamkenssa (Casablanca), Morocco conducted in 2008-2009, including interviews of women, local associations, professionals from the water services provider and local representatives of funding agencies. This study underlines how the global discourse articulated the invisible conception of water management and built a unique communication process based on universal, unique, semantic, semiotics and discursive constructs at a global scale from perceptions of local end-users, especially women. It showed how communication processes can improve stakeholders’ involvement to water management. To involve women and promote participatory approaches bring new economic, political and social development. The discourse and communication strategies was built on these changes; they introduced new practices in both local and global organisations, and promoted new possibilities for women’s participation and empowerment