Inadequate enforcement of legislation aimed at involving women in water governance structures

Civil society and women’s rights activities have been expressing concern about the delayed approval of the business rules of the Sindh Water Resources Management (Amendment) Act 2018, and stated that the Provincial Irrigation Department and Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Agency (SIDA) have neglected to include women in various water resources. The task of governance structure.

The Sindh Provincial Assembly passed the Sindh Water Resources Management (Amendment) Bill 2018 on January 12, 2021, recognizing the role of female farmers in water resources management for the first time.

Rana Ansar, a provincial member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P) in Pakistan, proposed a bill to include women in various water governance structures, such as the Waterway Association (WCA), Farmer Organizations (FOs) and Regional Water Boards (AWD).

The Enhanced Participation Organization (SPO) is an independent research and advocacy group. With the help of other rights groups, it lobbied and carried out advocacy work to get the bill passed by the provincial legislature.

Women’s rights groups and farmers’ groups cheered the approval of the bill at the time. The amendment to Article 30 of the Act includes “two outstanding women from the AWB command area, who have a strong agricultural background in irrigated agriculture and water, and preferably are members of any FO management committee”.

“Two women [should be] The FO command area has a strong agricultural background in irrigated agriculture and water, provided that a female member should have no land,” the Article 42 amendment says.

In addition, according to Article 56, paragraph (1), “In addition to the voters’ WCA members, the WCA committee shall be composed of two female members, preferably by the same waterway to conquer the WCA.”

The amendment to Article 70 states: “Two female members, one is an outstanding female activist/lawyer/journalist, and the other is an outstanding female farmer.” However, when it comes to their implementation, the situation is quite different. depressing.

The bill guarantees women’s representation in various water governance structures in the province-including approximately 49,000 WCAs, more than 950 FOs, and 14 AWBs. “If the bill is implemented properly, more than 100,000 women will be included in various water governance structures,” said Amjad Baloch, regional coordinator of the SPO. “This will be seen as a revolutionary step that will not only empower women in water governance decisions, but also empower farmers and farmers.”

But despite this, the provincial irrigation department and SIDA have been neglecting to include women in these institutions and have not yet implemented it. In addition, SPO facilitated SIDA to formulate business rules regarding women’s participation in waterway associations, farmers’ organizations, and regional water committees.

Unfortunately, the SIDA legal department has not yet approved the business rule. Sindh has an irrigation network with 14 main canals and approximately 49,000 field channels. However, there are currently only 3 canals AWB and about 3000 foreign channels WCA, which do not include women,

A source from the Provincial Ministry of Water Resources said that the formulation of business rules was delayed due to Ramadan and the province’s current water crisis. “But it will be approved at the upcoming SIDA meeting,” said an official from the ministry.