When water runs out, women suffer more

Silent Crisis: How Water Scarcity in Amplifies Gender Inequality, Violence, and Marginalization

By Mohammad Ehsan Leghari

(This article is written on the eve of the Water Festival to be held at M.H. Panhwar Institute of Sindh Studies, Jamshoro on 13 December 2025.)

In the sunbaked plains and coastal deltas of Pakistan’s Sindh province, I have witnessed water become more than a scarce commodity; it’s a catalyst for profound social upheaval. What begins as environmental degradation spirals into a deeply embodied crisis, where climate change intersects with entrenched patriarchal structures, poverty, and power imbalances. As women trek miles in blistering heat to collect contaminated water, I see them facing not only physical exhaustion but also heightened risks of violence and health deterioration. This isn’t just a story of resource scarcity; it’s a tale of how global crises disproportionately burden the vulnerable. Drawing on studies from researchers like Tallman et al. (2022), Sultana (2022), and Brewis et al. (2024), I portray the water crisis in Sindh not as a mere technical issue but as a social one, woven into structural inequalities and climate vulnerabilities. With millions in Pakistan lacking clean water and sanitation, I highlight how Sindh’s challenges underscore a broader nexus of gender and water insecurity that demands urgent attention.

The Interlocking Threats: Climate Change, Water Scarcity, and Poverty in Sindh

I observe Sindh standing at the frontline of climate vulnerability in Pakistan, where unpredictable rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, and saline intrusion from the Arabian Sea have devastated agricultural lands and groundwater resources. In coastal and arid zones, this has led to significant loss of soil fertility, resulting in diminished crop yields that erode the economic base of rural communities. As Sultana (2011, 2018) and Brewis et al. (2024) explain, these changes destabilize livelihoods, with climate acting as a “profound risk multiplier” that disproportionately affects women.

The access to safe drinking water remains a critical challenge, with high contamination levels from bacteria, industrial effluent, and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in water samples leading to widespread gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses, as noted by Pouramin et al. (2020). This dual burden of scarcity and poor quality exacerbates health issues across the province.

For women, the impact is particularly acute. In Pakistan, women spend nearly three times more hours on unpaid domestic labor than men, including the arduous task of water collection (Tallman et al., 2022). When water sources become more distant or saline-contaminated, this physical and temporal burden intensifies, often requiring journeys in extreme heat that drain time and energy (Sultana, 2018; Brewis et al., 2024).

The catastrophe extends to displacement and disease, especially during extreme events like the 2022 floods, which turned chronic water insecurity into immediate humanitarian and gender crises (Tallman et al., 2022; Sultana, 2018). These floods disrupted essential services, including maternal and child health facilities, leading to disproportionate suffering among women and girls from waterborne diseases, malnutrition, and deteriorating sexual and reproductive health (Sultana, 2018; Pouramin et al., 2020).

Psychological distress is another overlooked consequence: Surviving disasters in temporary shelters, camps, or upon returning to damaged homes imposes severe mental stress, often neglected in post-disaster recovery (Sultana, 2011; Tallman et al., 2022). Moreover, resource scarcity and displacement heighten Gender Based Violence (GBV) risks, including sexual assault, harassment, and early or child marriages as families resort to desperate economic coping mechanisms (Sultana, 2010; Tallman et al., 2022; Pouramin et al., 2020).

The Gendered Web of Insecurity and Violence

There is  link between water scarcity and violence in Pakistan is deeply rooted in rigid gender roles that place sole responsibility for water provision on women, priming them for blame and abuse when resources fail (Tallman et al., 2022; Brewis et al., 2024). The analysis reveals how water insecurity manifests as GBV, directly tying resource access to physical and emotional safety.

One key pathway is the risk during water collection: women and girls on extended journeys to fetch water are highly vulnerable to sexual and physical assault outside the home (Tallman et al., 2022). This often compels girls to drop out of school, transforming them into full-time “water labourers” and depriving them of education and future prospects (Tallman et al., 2022; Sultana, 2018).

Within the home, intimate partner violence (IPV) emerges as a major issue, driven by perceptions of women’s “inability” to fulfill household duties amid shortages. This form of violence weaponizes water scarcity to reinforce male dominance and control (Tallman et al., 2022; Brewis et al., 2024).

In the most desperate scenarios, survival pressures lead to transactional violence, where women engage in transactional sex or even suggest polygyny to increase female labor for water tasks, illustrating the extreme social and personal costs (Tallman et al., 2022).

This insecurity is further compounded for marginalized identities, particularly sexual and gender minority (SGM) communities like transgender and non-binary individuals, who face intersecting layers of stigma and exclusion (Benjamin & Hueso, 2017; Mukherjee et al., 2020; Brewis et al., 2024). Systemic discrimination limits their access to education, livelihoods, and healthcare, extending to exclusion from safe WASH facilities and heightening vulnerability to climate risks and social harms (Benjamin & Hueso, 2017; Mukherjee et al., 2020).

Healthcare access barriers are stark: transgender people encounter discrimination from staff, lack of privacy, and public disrespect, amplifying their susceptibility to WASH-related health issues (Shahzad et al., 2020; Brewis et al., 2024). Climate-induced hardships, such as floods and droughts, exacerbate this pre-existing marginalization, increasing the need for inaccessible protective resources (Mukherjee et al., 2021).

Governance Failures: Exclusion and Superficial Reforms

Despite women’s indispensable contributions to the water economy; both in domestic management and unpaid agricultural labor, I see them structurally marginalized in Pakistan’s water governance, reflecting broader power imbalances (Brewis et al., 2024).

Policy gaps are evident: national frameworks and management forums often address women’s needs tokenistically, confining them to domestic water supply and hygiene while overlooking their significant roles in agriculture and irrigation (Tallman et al., 2022; Zwarteveen, 2008; Sultana, 2009). Community-based structures, such as Water User Associations, provide nominal representation but function as “spaces of exclusion,” denying women genuine influence over decisions or budgets (Brewis et al., 2024).

In Sindh, the 2018 Water Management (Amendment) Bill represents a landmark but fragile step, mandating women’s representation in Water Course Associations (WCAs), Farmer Organizations (FOs), and Area Water Boards (AWBs) (Tallman et al., 2022; Sultana, 2009). This legislation historically recognizes women farmers, but its effectiveness is undermined by structural inequalities, limited education, and historical exclusion from decision-making.  Women frequently lack the legal authority to impact core water allocation decisions (Sultana, 2009). And now when whole water law for Sindh is being rewritten, we don’t know where 50 percent of Sindh— women stand in it.

Pathways to Gender-Transformative Water Justice

To resolve this embodied crisis, we need a shift from technical interventions to a gender-transformative, intersectional strategy that addresses underlying power dynamics and social structures.

1. Data and Policy Overhaul: Building Inclusion from the Ground Up

Let us advocate mandating the use of UNESCO World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) Toolkit standards for collecting intersectional, sex-disaggregated data that includes non-binary and SGM identities across water, WASH, health, and GBV indicators (Brewis et al., 2024). This moves beyond binary frameworks to capture the realities of the most vulnerable.

Integrate women’s strategic needs into national and provincial policies, such as Sindh’s water management framework, extending beyond domestic supply to agricultural roles and linking climate adaptation funds to women’s economic empowerment (Brewis et al., 2024).

Invest in women’s agency through higher education and employment opportunities, which research by Tallman et al. (2022) and Yang et al. (2018) shows significantly improves water security.

2. Building Climate-Resilient, Safe WASH Infrastructure

Prioritize decentralized, improved water sources like community handpumps and small-scale filtration systems, positioned on-premises or within safe distances to reduce time burdens and GBV exposure on “risk routes” (Tallman et al., 2022; Brewis et al., 2024).

Design and construct WASH facilities (toilets and shelters) that meet safety and dignity standards: well-lit, private, secure with internal locks, and inclusive for marginalized groups, including women observing Purdah and SGM individuals (Sommer et al., 2015; Tallman et al., 2022).

Develop gender-responsive services in disaster-prone areas, providing women-only healthcare, mental health support, and GBV prevention despite infrastructure damage (Sultana, 2011; Tallman et al., 2022).

3. Challenging Norms and Empowering Governance

Strengthen women’s authority in water bodies by ensuring legislative mandates translate to real decision-making power, with capacity-building and confidence training to counter historical exclusion (Sultana, 2009).

Engage men through community education campaigns that challenge cultural shame around “feminized” tasks, framing their participation as essential for climate-resilient masculinity and violence prevention (Tallman et al., 2022; Brewis et al., 2024).

Amplify SGM voices by partnering with local rights holder organizations to co-design WASH interventions and climate strategies, adopting a “Do No Harm” approach to prevent further violence or backlash (Benjamin & Hueso, 2017; Mukherjee et al., 2021).

The path to water security in Pakistan and Sindh is inextricably linked to gender justice. By confronting the embodied, structural, and political dimensions of this crisis, I believe equitable and resilient water management can be realized.

References

Benjamin, C. and Hueso, A. (2017) LGBTI and sanitation: What we know and what the gaps are.

Brewis, A., DuBois, L. Z., Wutich, A., Adams, E. A., Dickin, S., Elliott, S. J., Empinotti, V. L., Harris, L. M., Nébié, E. I., Korzenevica, M. (2024) ‘Gender identities, water insecurity, and risk: Re-theorizing the connections for a gender-inclusive toolkit for water insecurity research’, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water.

Mukherjee, S., Sundberg, T. and Schütt, B. (2020) ‘Assessment of water security in socially excluded areas in Kolkata, India: An approach focusing on water, sanitation and hygiene’, Water, 12(3).

Mukherjee, S., Sundberg, T. and Schütt, B. (2021) ‘Issues, dimensions and approaches of assessing urban water security in developing and emerging countries: An inclusive perspective’, in Sikdar, P. K. (ed.) Environmental Management: Issues and Concerns in Developing Countries. New Dehli: Springer.

Pouramin, P., Nagabhatla, N. and Miletto, M. (2020) ‘A Systematic Review of Water and Gender Interlinkages: Assessing the Intersection With Health’, Frontiers in Water, 2.

Shahzad, M., Bhutta, M., Khan, S., Rafiq, N. and Ramzan, S. (2020) ‘Social exclusion of aged transgender in Pakistan: A case study of district Rawalpindi’, International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 24(3).

Sommer, M., Ferron, S., Cavill, S. and House, S. (2015) ‘Violence, gender and WASH: Spurring action on a complex, under-documented and sensitive topic’, Environment and Urbanization, 27(1).

Sultana, F. (2009) ‘Community and participation in water resources management: gendering and naturing development debates from Bangladesh’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 34(3).

Sultana, F. (2010) ‘Living in hazardous waterscapes: gendered vulnerabilities and experiences of floods and disasters’, Environmental Hazards, 9(1).

Sultana, F. (2011) ‘Suffering for water, suffering from water: Emotional geographies of resource access, control and conflict’, Geoforum, 42(2).

Sultana, F. (2018) ‘Gender and Water in a Changing Climate: Challenges and Opportunities’, in Fröhlich, C., Ranganathan, M. and Schmeier, S. (eds.) Water Security Across the Gender Divide. Springer International Publishing AG.

Tallman, P. S., Collins, S., Salmon-Mulanovich, G., Rusyidi, B., Kothadia, A. and Cole, S. (2022) ‘Water insecurity and gender-based violence: A global review of the evidence’, WIRES Water.

Yang, Y. C. E., Passarelli, S., Lovell, R. J. and Ringler, C. (2018) ‘Gendered perspectives of ecosystem services: a systematic review’, Ecosystem Services.

Zwarteveen, M. (2008) ‘Men, masculinities and water powers in irrigation’, Water Alternatives, 1(1).

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Mohammad Ehsan Leghari is a water expert, former Member (Sindh), Indus River System Authority (IRSA), and former Managing Director, SIDA.