Masume Eshtiyaghi

Mazandaran University, Iran

Title: Gender justice in water scarcity situations

---

Biography

Masume Eshtiyaghi is a PhD sociologist and social researcher in development and water from Iran. She has been a volunteer in local communities since my student days and still am. Her taking a course in social facilitation and she use this skill to develop local communities. In recent years, due to the severe water crisis in parts of Iran, one of the issues related to the social consequences of water scarcity that I have been following is gender and water. In this regard, she pursue fieldwork, research, writing notes, and educating local communities. Her concern is to study the situation of women and girls in rural and poor communities in Iran, who are affected by the water scarcity and drought crisis. She try to do this by talking to water stakeholders and negotiating with managers at the institutional level, presenting research and field reports.

Abstract

Climate change is one of the most serious challenges of this century, and the crisis of water shortage and drought is one of its direct consequences. This crisis has faced many environmental, social, economic and even political challenges in the Middle East region in recent years. Provinces of Iran. The women of rural communities in Iran, like everywhere in the world, who are facing this crisis, are among the most important victims of this crisis. In this article, we will answer the question of how gender justice was during the water shortage crisis and we will describe and analyze why from a sociological perspective.The data of the article has been obtained by qualitative library method with the help of available documents and information and semi-structured interview with 15 women of the local community in Iran with low water and involved in drought crisis. Based on the results, 5 main categories were extracted, including scarcity mentality, learned helplessness, lack of equality of institutionalized participation opportunities, unequal inheritance and land ownership laws, and the dominance of male stereotypes and norms. Socio-cultural structures and norms have reproduced formal and informal-normative rules that have led to an unfair distribution of opportunities for women compared to men, the effects and objective indicators of which have also been reproduced in the water scarcity and drought crisis. Inequality resulting from the fragile situation of water scarcity in local communities has brought about more severe social, psychological and health harms for women, which has made them feel silenced and unable to change the current situation of their lives. Inequality resulting from the fragile situation of water scarcity in local communities has brought about more severe social, psychological and health harms for women, which has made them feel silenced and unable to change the current situation of their lives.