Abstract

Accession and management of natural resources especially water has traditionally been a prime responsibility of women. Climatic stresses and extremes coupled with non- climatic factors are reducing the per capita availability of water in several parts of the world including India. This is likely to enhance the vulnerability of women who are hitherto responsible for water accession and management. It is therefore important to monitor the availability and management of water across different regions. In order to quantify water related vulnerability a contextual water management tool called Water Insecurity Index (WII) was used as modification of Water Poverty Index developed by a group of hydrologists in 2000. WII was quantified for different states in India for two time slices 2000 and 2025.

The results showed that there is likely to be overall reduction in water related vulnerability in different states in India in 2025.  However large majority of states will continue to be moderately or highly vulnerable to water accession and management. It was also seen that states with highest gender gaps in literacy and high poverty rates were the most vulnerable. Thus it is important to build adaptive capacity of women to face climatic stresses and extremes.