Water and Africa 
bibliographic database
| Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Water, Rules and Gender: Water Rights in an Indigenous Irrigation System, Marakwet, Kenya |
| Authors: | Adams, William M. Watson, Elizabeth E. Mutiso, Samuel K. |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Periodical: | Development and Change (ISSN 0012-155X) |
| Volume: | 28 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Period: | October |
| Pages: | 707-730 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Kenya |
| Subjects: | water management women irrigation Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Development and Technology Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Law, Human Rights and Violence Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights agriculture Cultural Roles |
| External link: | https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00061 |
| Abstract: | The management of indigenous irrigation systems has received increasing attention both from social science researchers and from those development agents who seek to change them, or to find in them a model for organizing newly developed irrigation schemes. This article discusses how water is allocated within one such indigenous irrigation system, the hill furrow irrigation of the Marakwet escarpment in Kenya, where research was carried out in 1992-1993. It describes the 'formal rules' governing water rights, giving particular attention to the issue of gender. It then discusses the 'working rules' relevant to water allocation, which involve various informal practices of sharing, buying and stealing. Through such means, women are able to obtain water despite lacking a formal allowance in their own right, and men are able to adjust the timing and size of their allowance to fit their needs. The implications of this complexity for understanding the operation of indigenous farmer-managed irrigation systems are examined. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. |
