The specialized meeting titled “Women’s Role in Water Resource Management: Local and Indigenous Experiences” was held on Tuesday, 30 December 2025, from 17:00 to 20:00, by the Women’s Institute. This event was the first in a series of specialized meetings on water-related issues.

The meeting was organized in line with the Institute’s new focus on environmental education and dialogue, particularly around the water crisis. It was based on the understanding that women play an important role in times of crisis and scarcity, and that listening to their experiences can create a deeper understanding of the issue.

After a brief introduction to the Women’s Institute, its background, activities, approach, and new organizational structure, the invited speaker, Ms. Laden Bina, presented and discussed the main topic of the meeting. Ms. Bina is a senior expert at the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad and a member of the Participatory Water Management Working Group of the National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage.

The meeting began with the display of a powerful painting by a teenage Indian student. The artwork symbolically depicted the heavy burden of mothers’ daily responsibilities. This image served as an entry point for a deeper discussion on the often overlooked roles of women in resource management, especially water management.

The speaker then referred to local narratives and indigenous rituals related to water, including the ritual of “the Bride of the Qanat” and stories such as “Naneh Darya”. Through these examples, she showed that women in Iranian culture have historically played an active role in protecting water resources, transmitting knowledge, and managing water-related practices.

Examples of women’s practical participation in provinces such as South Khorasan, Yazd, Kerman, Khuzestan, and Kurdistan were also presented. These examples demonstrated women’s effective presence in water management at the household level, in small-scale agriculture, qanat systems, gardening, and livelihood resilience. This presence, however, has often been ignored in formal structures of water governance.

A significant part of the meeting was devoted to a historical review of women’s participation in water management, from traditional periods based on indigenous knowledge to the modern era and the emergence of centralized and male-dominated structures of water governance. In this context, the speaker emphasized the gender gap between the burden of responsibility for daily water use and management on the one hand, and the power of decision-making and resource allocation on the other.

In this section, reference was made to the ideas of Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Prize-winning economist, who challenged the theory of the “tragedy of the commons” and emphasized the role of collective action and the participation of local stakeholders in the sustainable management of shared resources.

The meeting also introduced examples of successful projects and experiences involving women’s participation in water management in Iran and in several other countries, including India, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, and Oman. These experiences showed that empowering women can lead to improved water efficiency, increased food security, stronger livelihood resilience, and reduced social conflicts.

During the discussion section, participants from diverse backgrounds, including gardeners, agricultural activists, government experts, and researchers, shared their experiences and views. The main themes of the discussion included education, reform of governance structures, attention to climatic realities, and the role of consumption culture.

In this part of the meeting, the activities of the “Local Women Irrigators” group were introduced. The need for institutional support for grassroots initiatives aimed at teaching responsible water consumption, especially in schools and public spaces, was also emphasized.

In the concluding section, it was emphasized that Iran’s water crisis is not merely a technical or managerial issue. Rather, it is a deeply social, cultural, and institutional phenomenon. Local, national, and international experiences show that the meaningful presence and participation of women plays a decisive role in the sustainability of decision-making processes and the effectiveness of water policies. Because women are directly involved in the everyday management of water use, household livelihoods, and the transmission of local knowledge, they can create a real connection between policymaking, implementation, and everyday life.

It was also emphasized that without a fundamental change in the way water is understood, no sustainable structural reform will be possible. Water must be redefined, no longer as an endlessly available and unlimited commodity, but as a limited and valuable resource that requires collective care. Only through this shift in perspective can responsible and demanding citizens, as well as accountable and sustainable water governance, become possible.