Six women who made history in the last decades in defense of water

In the fight to protect water resources—the undeniable lifeblood of our existence on Earth—the 20th century has seen remarkable achievements by women with an exceptional ecological vision. Recognizing the critical importance of the water cycle, they have courageously raised their voices from their territories, where extractivism and industrial exploitation pose constant threats. Their efforts have been a stand against the degradation of their rivers and natural water sources, as well as the harm inflicted on their communities’ health and food supply.

Recognizing the critical importance of the water cycle, women have courageously raised their voices from their territories

In the case of environmental water activism, it is imperative to recognize that women have historically and globally borne the primary responsibility for agricultural labor and domestic water provision. The testimony of Indian feminist and earth activist Vandana Shiva serves as a powerful reminder of water’s central role not only in human and gender rights but also in the broader debate over ownership and corporate (often private) control of the Earth’s resources. What Vandana calls Earth Democracy—a concept embraced by many ecofeminists—highlights the interconnectedness of natural resources and modern democracy. Just as the feminist struggle is inseparable from other movements against patriarchal dominance and power, the fight for water justice is deeply intertwined with the broader quest for social and environmental equity.

This 8^th of March, we revisit the story of six women, including Vandana, who have actively fought for the inseparable rights to food and water. Rooted in the experience of rural life and agriculture, their activism embodies the true essence of Earth Democracy, advocating for a just and sustainable relationship between communities and natural resources.

Vandana Shiva (India)

Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental activist, feminist and mother of the concept of Earth Democracy. A leader in the International Forum on Globalisation, Shiva received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, although she is best known for her persistent struggle for the rights of poor women farmers in India and against corporate control of seeds by genetically modified organism (GMO) companies such as Monsanto. She is a widely published author and has directly confronted governments and corporate capital in their attempts to ‘own and sell’ the earth through the control and privatization of water.

In her “Nine Principles of Water Democracy’ (Shiva, 2002)”, she states that the seventh principle is:

“7. Water is a commons: Water is not a human invention. It cannot be bound and has no boundaries. It is by nature a commons. It cannot be owned as private property and sold as a commodity."

This struggle to keep water out of the control of corporations and in the hands of local communities who need it and access it as a commons has led Vandana Shiva to raise her voice, personally, against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose structural adjustment programmes often require the privatisation of water as a condition for loans under the rubric of ‘free trade’.

She currently chairs the Commission on the Future of Food in Italy's Tuscany region, serves as a leading figure in the International Forum on Globalization, and is the director of the Foundation for Scientific, Technological, and Ecological Research, which she founded in 1982. Additionally, she is an associate editor of the prestigious journal The Ecologist.

Hubbie Hussein Al-Haji (Kenya)

Hubbie Hussein Al-Haji, born in Garissa, Kenya, has focused her activism on advocating for women's rights in water management. As executive director of WomenKind Kenya, Al-Haji has been a driving force behind reforms that empower women to participate in water management committees, challenging the systemic exclusion they have endured for centuries. Her fight stems from a reality all too common in rural communities worldwide: while women are primarily responsible for collecting water, they are seldom granted a voice in its distribution and management.

Al-Haji has denounced how privatisation policies, imposed under pressure from international institutions, have aggravated water scarcity and deepened gender inequalities. The organisation of women in local committees has enabled communities to resist corporate appropriation of water, reclaiming it as a common good. Al-Haji's struggle is thus part of a tradition of community-based feminism that articulates the defence of natural resources with the struggle for women's political and economic rights. In Al-Haji's words: “For a long time, Kenyan women have looked on helplessly and have had to live with inadequate water services. Now, since the start of the country’s water reform project, we are beginning to campaign for change.”

Maude Barlow (Canada)

Although Maude Barlow, born in 1947 in Toronto, did not come from a rural background of water scarcity, she has been a pivotal advocate for recognizing water as a fundamental human right. Through her work with the Council of Canadians and the Blue Planet Project, Barlow has exposed how the commodification of water disproportionately benefits corporate elites while leaving millions without secure access. Her activism played a crucial role in the UN General Assembly’s 2010 recognition of access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right.

For Barlow, the fight for water is a battle against the re-colonization of common goods by multinational corporations.

Barlow's proposal of a ‘Water Democracy’ advocates for public and community-led management as the only legitimate way to govern water resources

Her critiques of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other trade agreements highlight how these treaties enable corporations to sue governments for attempting to regulate water access and distribution. Her proposal of a ‘Water Democracy’ advocates for public and community-led management as the only legitimate way to govern water resources. “If only half of the US$100 billion that the world’s wealthy spent on bottled water in 2005 had been  spent on infrastructure and treatment, every  human being in the world would have clean  drinking water today.”

Medha Patkar (India)

Born in Bombay in 1953, Medha Patkar's life is synonymous with the ecofeminist struggle in India against large dams, specifically the dam project along the Narmada Valley, the largest dam project in the world. Patkar has pointed out that, in Third World countries, government control of water, outside the control of communities and the poor (mostly women), has facilitated the construction of huge water projects which, in the case of India, have been imposed as conditions of The World Bank’s structural adjustment loans. In this sense, dams have become the popular means employed by international institutions to transfer control of water from communities to central governments, becoming an activity responsible for the displacement of communities and, in Patkar's words, contributing to the false idea that “dams are about augmenting water but in reality, dams simply take water away from one community to give to another”.

Patkar's original struggle focused on obtaining fair settlements for the displaced people, but the protest soon evolved to expose a major environmental controversy that called into question not only the methods of compensation for the evicted people but also the very logic of building dams. Facing numerous jail sentences along the way, Patkar gave a voice to poor Dalit women and peasant farmers with the creation of the National Alliance of People's Movements. Her victory, won with the support of many other activists alongside her, eventually forced The World Bank out of the Narmada Valley dam project. In her words: ‘A feminist vision is key to achieving an alternative vision of development. It emphasises love and compassion, humanity rather than alienation’.

Asaha Elizabeth Ufei (Cameroon)

Asaha Elizabeth Ufei's activist voice came to prominence in December 2009 during the International Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her impassioned account of the lives of black women in Momo Division in Cameroon's North West Province set a strong precedent in recognising the link between women, gender and climate change: “As the climate conditions worsen, women are finding it harder to provide food and water for their families. The once reliable and nearby water sources are drying up or contaminated; and the crops aren’t producing enough. So we are faced with questions: How many more miles must women have to walk to provide basic life sources?”

Ufei's story highlights a reality that, unfortunately, is shared by many women in rural Africa. Her courageous presence at the Copenhagen Forum in 2009 served as a powerful reminder to the so-called ‘developed world’ of the escalating hardships faced by women in the ‘Global South’ as the climate crisis continues unchecked.

Berta Cáceres (Honduras)

Of course, not all women who dedicate their voices and bodies to the environmental struggle achieve victory, but all undeniably put their lives at risk. Berta Cáceres remains one of the most resonant figures today, as her peaceful resistance was brutally silenced by her assassin, David Castillo, former Manager of Desarrollos Energéticos (DESA), the company behind the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project.

Berta Cáceres, a well-known Indigenous leader in Honduras and Founder and Coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH), strongly opposed the development of this project, along with many other activists from the Lenca Indigenous community in the heart of the Gualcarque River. The project had been successfully delayed thanks to protests led by Cáceres, who claimed that the dam would destroy a sacred river, slowing its course, decimating the fish stocks they depended on for food, and destroying the banks used to grow food and harvest medicinal plants.

Unfortunately, the murder of Berta Cáceres is not an isolated case, but, as the investigation itself concluded, responds to “a systematic policy of attacks against human rights defenders, within a context of generalised violence that affects all people living in Honduras.”

The words of Berta Cáceres, along with those of her fellow water defenders around the world, continue to fuel our hope and determination to protect water resources—whether in the fields, within institutions, or through our humble role as editors. As she powerfully stated: “A river is like the blood running through your veins. It is a crime to attack a river full of life.”