Women in hybrid water delivery in Sunyani, Ghana: reproducing gender-based inequalities in the global South

Urban water access in secondary African cities is increasingly shaped by hybrid delivery arrangements that involve a complex intertwining of formalised piped networks with informalised, non-networked water infrastructure alternatives, such as mechanised boreholes and wells. Applying a qualitative research design, this study examines how such configurations produce gendered inequalities in Sunyani, Ghana, drawing on 75 household interviews, vendor interviews, expert insights, transect walks and field observations across three socio-economically distinct neighbourhoods. Using hybridity and gender as analytical lenses, the study identifies three configurations – substitution, competition and complementarity – and shows how each intersects with income, gender and neighbourhood location to shape women’s labour, time use, financial burdens and decision-making. In Kotokrom, substitutional arrangements impose intense physical and temporal demands on women; in Baakoniaba, competitive water markets generate precarious, gendered water-related livelihoods; and in Berlin-Top, complementary systems reduce daily labour but deepen classed financial hierarchies. The study introduces a labour–time–finance framework, demonstrating that hybrid water delivery redistributes inequality through embodied work and socio-spatial privilege.