Empowerment, Water and Women: The Case of Francisco Sarabia, Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

This article presents the factors that hindered women's empowerment in Francisco Sarabia, Chiapas, within the bottled water marketing activities for domestic use of the project NuestrAgua Franquicia Social (NAFS), Cántaro Azul Foundation. Based on an interpretive methodology with ten semi-structured interviews, four directed to women participating in the NAFS project, two to their relatives, and four to the operational and managerial staff of the project. The results show that the values assigned to water by the women of NAFS, Cántaro Azul Foundation, and the local authorities are not shared. The divergences and even conflicts around water use generate tensions and disagreements between women and the locality, constituting the main obstacle to their empowerment through participation in local water management.