Paper short abstract:

Feminist scholars and activists have drawn attention to the importance of women’s land rights; yet little of this work has focused on the relationship of land and water rights. In this paper we consider the relationship between land and water rights, using a gender lens.

Paper long abstract:

Feminist scholars and activists have drawn attention to the importance of women’s land rights; yet little of this work has focused on the relationship of land and water rights. Within rural households, men and women have different rights to both land and water. This paper analyses these relationships using community profiles and in-depth interviews from two communities as well as survey data on both land and water rights and use collected from multiple adults in rural households in Kilifi County, Kenya. While land tenure patterns are changing in Kenya, with a move to reclassify traditional land tenure systems to freehold , men continue to have stronger tenure rights. In this paper we consider the relationship between land and water rights, using a gender lens. These relationships may play out within the household, where men’s land rights give them rights over the use of water. They may also play out within the community, where gendered social relationships affect land and water rights. Some may lack access to water sources or steer away from certain water sources because of power dynamics embedded in social relationships with regards to where the water source is located. We explore how these gendered relationships affect decisions by men and women within the household about how to collect water and then how to distribute it across both productive and reproductive uses. Finally, we discuss whether the co-existence of different land and water rights exacerbate or challenge gender inequality.