Why Livelihoods Matter in The Gendering of Household Water Insecurity

One of the most pressing and immediate climate concerns globally is inadequate and unsafe household water. The livelihoods of smallholder crop and livestock farmers are especially vulnerable to these challenges. Past research suggests that water insecurity is highly gendered, and women are theorized to be more aware of and impacted by water insecurity than men. Our study re-engages this literature through a livelihood lens, comparing gendered perception of household water insecurity across crop and livestock subsistence modalities in a semi-arid region of Burkina Faso in the Sahel region of West Africa where water insecurity is closely intertwined with both seasonality and rainfall unpredictability. Our mixed-methods ethnographic study sampled matched men and women in households with water insecurity data collected from 158 co-resident spousal pairs who engaged primarily in pastoralism or agriculture. Contrary to predictions from the existing literature, men engaged in livestock husbandry perceived greater water insecurity than matched women in the same household. We suggest this reflects men’s responsibility for securing water for the animals—which consumes most of the household’s water among livestock farmers. In contrast, men engaged in cropping perceive less water insecurity than women in the same household, aligning with predictions from past research. Our findings suggest that the relationship between gender and water insecurity is more highly nuanced and related to livelihood strategies than previously recognized, with significant implications for how water insecurity is conceptualized theoretically and methodologically in the contexts of people’s everyday management and experience of the most immediate and proximate climate-related challenges.