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Cited by 23Water Governance and InfrastructureWater Resource Management and QualityGender, Education, and Development Issues

Gendered water spaces: A study of the transition from wells to handpumps in Mozambique.

Van Houweling, Emily·2015·Gender, Place & Culture
DOI 10.1080/0966369x.2014.970140
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Abstract

In many parts of rural Africa, women and children spend a lot of time collecting water. In the development literature, the water collection task is portrayed as oppressive, arduous, and disliked by women. Eliminating this activity from women's lives is believed to empower them, yet there has been little research investigating what actually happens at the water source or how women themselves perceive the time spent there. This research is based on one year of ethnographic fieldwork in five rural communities in the northern province of Nampula, Mozambique. Over this year, handpumps were constructed in communities where people previously collected water from distant shallow wells and rivers. This article compares the social interactions and activities between the customary water sites and the handpump through the lens of gendered space. The customary water sites are controlled by women and highly valued for their social attributes. While clean water is more accessible at the handpumps, men often regulate access to the technology and social activities are limited. This article contributes to feminist geography and political ecology by showing how differences in the materiality of water spaces interact with local norms to shape social interactions and gendered subjectivities, and how, in turn, men and women contribute to the production and meaning of these spaces. I argue that the handpumps open up new spaces for men and women to negotiate gender roles and (re)define their associations with modernity and development.

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  • In Mozambique, newly constructed handpumps provided women with easier, more reliable water access, but made achieving privacy for bathing and menstrual hygiene more difficult than at sources like rivers.

    “In Mozambique, newly constructed handpumps provided women with easier, more reliable water access, but made achieving privacy for bathing and menstrual hygiene more difficult than at sources like rivers [261].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [261]

  • Seasonal changes impacted time spent on water acquisition: during the dry season, women waited for unpredictable water deliveries, spent extra time collecting water when sources dried up, slept or cooked at sources when lines were long, and walked long distances in the dark.

    “Seasonal changes impacted time spent on water acquisition: during the dry season, women waited for often unpredictable and therefore disruptive water deliveries (Philippines [100]); spent extra time collecting water when sources dried up (Ghana [197]); slept or cooked at sources when lines were long (Mozambique [261]); and walked long distances in the dark (Mozambique [153]).”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [261]

  • Men were more likely to collect from closer sources, where queues were shorter or they had priority access, or with assets like bicycles, motorcycles, wheelbarrows, or donkey carts to assist.

    “Men were more likely to collect from closer sources, [20] where queues were shorter [153, 261] or they had priority access, [61] or with assets like bicycles, motorcycles, wheelbarrows, or donkey carts to assist [98,123,153,258].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [261]

  • When men or boys do collect water, it has been more acceptable when they consider it 'helping' women or use technology-like bicycles, wheelbarrows, or motorcycles.

    “When men or boys do collect water, it has been more acceptable when they consider it 'helping' women [261] or use technology-like bicycles, wheelbarrows, or motorcycles-while women and girls are expected to carry water [123, 165, 229, 258, 261].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [261]

  • In several countries, it was more acceptable for men to have technological jobs, like as handpump mechanics, while women were discouraged.

    “and to have technological jobs, like as handpump mechanics, while women were discouraged [66,83,261].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [261]

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Authors
Van Houweling, E.
Venue
Gender, Place & Culture
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2014-10-22
Volume
22
Issue
10
Pages
1391-1407
ISSN
  • 0966-369X (ISSN-L)
  • 1360-0524
DOI
10.1080/0966369x.2014.970140
OpenAlex
W2073523299
Cited by
23
References
25
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1
FWCI
15.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Gender Place & Culture (publishedVersion)
Funders
Fulbright Association
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Water Governance and Infrastructure
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Resource Management and Quality
  • Social Sciences › Education › Gender, Education, and Development Issues
Keywords
gendered space, hand pumps, wells, water collection, gender roles, gendered subjectivity, feminist geography, political ecology, rural Mozambique, Nampula

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