Gender and Water Poverty: Salinity in Rampal and Saronkhola, Bagerhat

The NGO Voice of South Bangladesh conducted a study in two unions of Bagerhat district, in the Coastal Belt, where salinity is increasing as a result of various factors, amongst them: climate change and global warming resulting in sea water rise, and the large dam in India that withholds the water in the dry season and opens the gates in the monsoon. Shrimp cultivation is a third factor. Both poor women and men suffer from the saline water, but women more: they are responsible for water and hygiëne in the household, and for their reproductive duties. So much water everywhere, but drinking water is far away or expensive. In the paper the findings are analysed from an empowerment perspective. Different categories of people are interviewed.