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Cited by 338Water Governance and InfrastructureGender and Feminist StudiesSocial Sciences and Humanities

Fluid lives: Subjectivities, gender and water in rural Bangladesh.

Sultana, Farhana·2009·Gender, Place & Culture
DOI 10.1080/09663690903003942
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Abstract

This article seeks to contribute to the emerging debates in gender–water and gender–nature literatures by looking at the ways that gendered subjectivities are simultaneously (re)produced by societal, spatial and natural/ecological factors, as well as materialities of the body and of heterogeneous waterscapes. Drawing from fieldwork conducted in Bangladesh on arsenic contamination of drinking water, the article looks at the ways that gender relations are influenced by not just direct resource use/control/access and the implications of different types of waters, but also by the ideological constructs of masculinity/femininity, which can work in iterative ways to influence how people relate to different kinds of water. Conflicts and struggles over water inflect gendered identities and sense of self, where both men and women participate in reproducing and challenging prevailing norms and practices. As a result, multiple social and ecological factors interact in complex and interlinked ways to complicate gender–water relations, whereby socio-spatial subjectivities are re/produced in water management and end up reinforcing existing inequities. The article demonstrates that gender–water relations are not just intersected by social axes, as generally argued by feminist scholars, but also by ecological change and spatial relations vis-à-vis water, where simultaneously socialized, ecologized, spatialized and embodied subjectivities are produced and negotiated in everyday practices.

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Crossref · 10.1080/09663690903003942

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63 of 63 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Women in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and India reported decision-making power over water collection and allocation, though some studies from India found men to make water collection decisions that did not account for women's priorities.

    “Women in Bangladesh, [110] Ethiopia, [108] and India [60] reported decisionmaking power over water collection and allocation, though some studies from India found men to make water collection decisions that did not account for women's priorities [101,119].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [110]

  • Movement restrictions influenced women and girls' access to water and defecation, urination, and menstrual management locations, and are most widely reported in India.

    “Movement restrictions influenced women and girls' access to water [101, 110, 178] and defecation, urination, and menstrual management locations, and are most widely reported in India [62, 135, 174, 181, 182, 184, 187], [101,110,187,[189][190][191].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [110]

  • To prevent shaming family members or suffering beatings by men, women collected water from closer, polluted sources rather than cleaner sources in male-dominated public spaces.

    “To prevent shaming family members (Bangladesh [110]) or suffering beatings by men (India [101]), women collected water from closer, polluted sources rather than cleaner sources in male-dominated public spaces.”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [110]

  • Almost all articles documenting physical violence from interpersonal conflicts focused on water, including intrahousehold conflicts and beatings due to participation in water supply projects, abuse from mothers-in-law over water collection, quarrels while waiting in water queues, and beatings by school janitors over unclean toilets.

    “Almost all articles documenting physical violence from interpersonal conflicts focused on water [89,110,198,243,258]. Women in India experienced intrahousehold conflicts and beatings due to participation in a water supply project; [89] young women in Bangladesh, especially new brides, suffered verbal and physical abuse from mothers-in-law when they failed to collect water quickly or did not”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [110]

  • All research describing fear or experience of non-partner physical violence focused on sanitation, while all articles focusing on intimate partner physical violence and most focusing on interpersonal conflict focused on water.

    “All research describing fear or experience of non-partner physical violence focused on sanitation, while all articles focusing on intimate partner physical violence and most focusing on interpersonal conflict focused on water (_((((xxx))))_)[61, 62, 76, 86, 89, 101, 110, 111, 123, 135, 143, 144, 171, 173-175, 177, 179, 181, 182, 188, 189, 191, 198, 201, 243, 251, 255, 257, 258, 260, 262, 264, 266,”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [110]

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Authors
Sultana, F.
Affiliations
Syracuse University (US)
Corresponding author
Sultana, Farhana
ORCID
Sultana, Farhana
Venue
Gender, Place & Culture
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2009-07-14
Volume
16
Issue
4
Pages
427-444
ISSN
  • 0966-369X (ISSN-L)
  • 1360-0524
DOI
10.1080/09663690903003942
OpenAlex
W2032333460
Cited by
338
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 42 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 8
FWCI
39.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Gender Place & Culture (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • United Nations Development Programme
  • Department for International Development
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Water Governance and Infrastructure
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Social Sciences and Humanities
Keywords
gender and water, gendered subjectivity, arsenic contamination, drinking water, rural Bangladesh, masculinity and femininity, water conflicts, water management, gendered identity, embodiment, water landscapes, ecological change, spatial relations

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