Affordability of services is a determinant for people’s level of access to water. In this study, we analyse the effect of a programme aimed at improving the affordability of water services on users’ water consumption. The programme was implemented in 2012 by the local government of the city of Bogotá, Colombia, intending to provide an essential “lifeline” volume of water to poor households free of charge. Our assessment was carried out with secondary data and used difference-in-difference estimators in a panel data analysis of a two-period sample: 2011 and 2014. The unit of analysis was defined based on the city’s administrative divisions and the socio-economic stratification of residences. Over the period analysed, beneficiaries’ household consumption increased, reaching per capita consumption levels closer to those of the upper strata of users. Results suggest that the programme contributes to increased consumption and equity among users.

Affordability of services is a determinant for people’s level of access to water. In this study, we analyse the effect of a programme aimed at improving the affordability of water services on users’ water consumption. The programme was implemented in 2012 by the local government of the city of Bogotá, Colombia, intending to provide an essential “lifeline” volume of water to poor households free of charge. Our assessment was carried out with secondary data and used difference-in-difference estimators in a panel data analysis of a two-period sample: 2011 and 2014. The unit of analysis was defined based on the city’s administrative divisions and the socio-economic stratification of residences. Over the period analysed, beneficiaries’ household consumption increased, reaching per capita consumption levels closer to those of the upper strata of users. Results suggest that the programme contributes to increased consumption and equity among users.

En este artículo se analiza la forma en que se expresa y recrea la segregación de género en los procesos de gestión del agua en los espacios formales de adopción de decisiones, presentes en el Distrito de Riego 101 Cuxtepeques, localizado en el municipio La Concordia, Chiapas. Se examina el proceso de transferencia de la infraestructura hidroagrícola a los usuarios del distrito, así como la constitución y operación de la Asociación de Usuarios y el Comité Hidráulico, a fin de identificar las barreras culturales asociadas con masculinidad que impiden considerar a las mujeres campesinas como agricultoras y legítimas usuarias, con capacidad de ser acreedoras de derechos al agua de regadío y de participar en condiciones de equidad en los procesos de gestión del agua. Frente a los obstáculos legales y culturales que enfrentan, se revisan las diversas estrategias e iniciativas impulsadas por las mujeres campesinas para asegurar sus derechos al agua y hacerse visibles en el mundo de la irrigación. Se concluye que para disminuir la brecha de género en el control sobre el agua no bastan los cambios en las políticas, sino que se requiere desafiar la fuerte asociación cultural e ideológica entre irrigación y masculinidad; de construir los símbolos culturales que organizan y estructuran las prácticas y representaciones respecto a los vínculos entre género y agua. | This article discusses how gender segregation is expressed and recreated in water management in formal decision-making institutions in the Cuxtepeques Irrigation District 101, located in the municipality of La Concordia, Chiapas. The transfer of hydro-agricultural infrastructure to users of the district and the establishment and operation of the Users Association and Water Committee is analyzed in order to identify cultural barriers associated with masculinity that prevent rural women to be considered as farmers and legitimate users. User legitimacy reflects on women s capacity to be creditors of irrigation water rights and to participate on equal terms in water management processes. Strategies and initiatives taken by rural women to secure their water rights and become visible in the irrigation world, in the face of legal and cultural obstacles, are also reviewed. We conclude that policy changes are insufficient to reduce the gender gap in control over water, and that the strong cultural and ideological association between irrigation and masculinity needs to be challenged; deconstructing the cultural symbols that organize and structure the practices and the representations of the links between gender and water.