Women’s Leadership in Community Water Governance and Rural Sanitation Infrastructure

African Journal of Gender and Women Studies | Vol. 11, No. 11, November 2026 | pp. 141–154

DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001355

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Women’s Leadership in Community Water Governance and Rural Sanitation Infrastructure

Names of Author: Zainab Musa-Garba¹, Mateo Solis², & Astrid Holmberg³

Author's Affiliation: ¹Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria; ²Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile; ³Department of Water and Environmental Studies, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.

Abstract:
Decentralized rural water management policies frequently establish local water user committees to maintain boreholes and community piped systems, yet patriarchal leadership norms often relegate women to token administrative roles without budgetary control. Because women and girls bear primary responsibility for household water collection and hygiene, their exclusion from technical decision-making leads to poorly sited water points and frequent infrastructure breakdowns. This paper investigates the operational and social outcomes of women-led community water boards in northern Nigeria and rural Chile. Anchored in feminist political ecology and commons governance theory, the study combines infrastructure functionality audits across 40 villages with 50 interviews involving female water committee treasurers and engineers. We demonstrate that mandating female leadership in technical maintenance and tariff management significantly improves water system reliability and community health.

Keywords: Water governance, rural sanitation, women’s leadership, feminist political ecology, commons management, infrastructure equity, Nigeria, Chile

Manuscript Timeline: Received: September 29, 2026; Revised: October 28, 2026; Accepted: November 01, 2026; Published: November 16, 2026.

Citation: Musa-Garba, Z., Solis, M., & Holmberg, A. (2026). Women’s Leadership in Community Water Governance and Rural Sanitation Infrastructure. African Journal of Gender and Women Studies, 11(11), 141–154. DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001355

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