Much of the feminist/gendered research contained in this issue tackles head on processes and procedures where women specifically are denied their basic human right of water due to paternal and gendered (and deeply raced and classed) processes.
Underpinning this research is the idea that, until women are taken into consideration in the making of policy and procedure, and until women are consulted, and until women no longer bear the burden of the household and water collection, they will never be able to exercise their basic human rights.
This framework of water (and access to clean water and sanitation) has offered many of the intrepid writers and gender researchers in this issue, a vehicle for expanding on the ever growing and ubiquitous linkage between contemporary capital and a shifting tenacious patriarchy, and an understanding that many contemporary governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Africa (and local and regional governance structures) still do not fundamentally consider gender when making and acting on policy.
