Literature Review: Gender and water management organisations in Bangladesh

Abstract

This literature review was led to inform the project “G3 - Water Governance and Community-based Management”, funded by the Challenge Programme on Water and Food (CPWF). G3 is part of a cluster of project in the Ganges Basin on Community Based Management. The specific objectives of G3 are to understand the different modes and outcomes of water governance in selected polders and the role that communities play in such governance.

This review of gender and water relationships in Bangladesh aims at taking stock of the current research findings and identifying gaps and key issues that might need further investigation within the G3 project. The objectives are to ensure a gender sensitive approach of water governance issues within the project and make sure that recommendations on institutional change do take into account gender aspects. The focus of this review was primarily on gender and water management organisations (WMOs) but it was equally important to locate gender relationships within the broader social, political and biophysical context in which they are embedded.