Women, Equity and Participatory Water Management in Brazil

Abstract

Public participation in resource management is regarded as a central pillar of sustain- able development. Water management is a foremost example, and women globally are

prime users and protectors of water. Yet the effectiveness of participatory water man- agement practices is seldom examined from a feminist perspective. This article estab- lishes a methodological framework for such an inquiry, drawing on ecofeminist

theory and the Brazilian concept of ‘feminist transformative leadership’ to consider gender, race and class aspects of participatory water management in Brazil.