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Short abstract:

This paper examines multiple forms of response-ability that are gendered through care practices performed by communities in Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.

Long abstract:

This study explores gendered response-ability and community care practices in managing waste in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Focusing on Lombok Island, it examines how communities respond to the waste crisis. Drawing from ethnographic data, the study highlights the multiplicity of response-ability performed by community groups and local women in caring for waste through informal initiatives amid the responsibilization in waste governance. It critiques neoliberal, top-down waste management policies and emphasizes the need to recognize the sociomaterial relations of waste. By integrating concepts of response-ability and care, we argue that community responses to the waste crisis are gendered and unevenly distributed in terms of care work, affections, and ethics. The research reveals how women bear a disproportionate burden of care work and exposure to toxicity in caring for waste, others, and the environment. This work underscores the political dimension of waste relations and the importance of an equitable and inclusive approach to environmental governance that acknowledges and supports community-based efforts, particularly those led by women.