Women’s Crucial Role in Collective Operation and Maintenance of Drinking Water Infrastructure in Rural Uganda

Operation and maintenance of communally owned water sources in Uganda still pose challenges despite the devolution of water management from the state to user communities. Using a mixed-methods approach and a gender-sensitive collective action analytical framework, this article quantifies the role of women in drinking-water governance and identifies barriers to women’s participation. The findings show that women not only are more willing to contribute but have also stated higher actual contribution than their male counterparts. The article outlines the institutional and individual attributes constraining women’s effective participation in water management and suggests how to enhance women’s participation in water governance. We argue that a strategy built on water users’ collective action in Uganda has to be built on women’s participation through effective rules and monitoring mechanisms, as well as on long-term sensitization and awareness creation on gender stereotypes that hitherto hinder women’s participation.