Abstract

RUIZ MEZA, Laura Elena. Gender segregation in the allocation of water rights in the rural irrigation systems in Chiapas, Mexico. Cuad. Desarro. Rural [online]. 2013, vol.10, n.72, pp.201-222. ISSN 0122-1450.

It is analyzed the way in which gender discrimination is expressed and recreated in the decision-making process of the allocation of water rights in the 101 Cuxtepeques Irrigation District, located in the Grijalva river basin in Chiapas, southern Mexico. It is highlighted the significant participation of women farm land owners, both in the agricultural production and irrigation work, as well as in the subsistence of their households as heads of their families. The legal and cultural barriers associated with masculinity which have prevented rural women to be recognized as farmers and water users are pointed. They are expressed in women exclusion from formal organizational spaces and their subordination in the local arrangements for the allocation of water irrigation. Additionally, some of the trading strategies driven by rural women to ensure their water rights are examined.

Keywords : Gender; water rights; agency; women farmers; irrigation districts; Using water; administration; Chiapas (Mexico); sexual discrimination against women; social aspects; women in rural development.

        · abstract in Spanish | French     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )