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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/FWSH/12
Role of women in irrigated agriculture through sustainable water management: a case
study of Lower Bari Doab canal in Punjab, Pakistan

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Seher Un Nisa , Dr. Saira Akhtar , Dr. Ziauddin .
1 WWF-Pakistan, Lahore, Pakistan
2 University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Correspondence: seherunnisa1994@gmail.com

Abstract
Gender participation in groundwater management is as old as mankind. In rural areas women’s
involvement in agricultural irrigation activities is low as compared to men. Groundwater
resources are part of larger socio-ecological systems which support irrigated agriculture in
Indus Basin. The major scope of this study is to evaluate the current status of involvement of
women in water use in agriculture. Women’s role in water and irrigation as well as labors has
often been ignored. Pakistan’s irrigation system is more than a century old. Due to the
increasing population and other problems intensifying agriculture dependence on groundwater
has successively increased. In this case, women can play a role in in water management of
water by participating in decision making, water conservation measure, education the coming
generations. This study analyzes the involvement of women in agriculture. The study was
conducted at two sites in district Sahiwal and Okara in Lower Bari Doab Canal Command
(LBDC) area to assess the participation of women in irrigation management and its impact on
livelihood of farming communities. level of involvement in water use efficiency, investigation
of the causes of limited participation of women in irrigation are also among the major targets
of the study. The study was conducted as a part of an ACIAR funded project on groundwater
management in Pakistan. Six villages were selected from the study sites and 120 respondents
were interviewed, according to a pre-design questionnaire. The results have indicated that 96%
women have access to work of different activities in fields, while majority of them use canal
system to irrigate their fields and some of them use any other kind of irrigation. It’s admitted
that the involvement of women and their support is hardly significant for their family, their
community and country progress. Inappropriately, their support is not recognized which affects
their social and economic and traditional independence. Some recommendations for
involvement of women in water management have been proposed.

Keywords: Gender role; water-management; agriculture; LBDC; Punjab; Pakistan

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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