Women and political protest

Whilst doing some reading, I came across an interesting article called 'Naked power: women and the social production of water in anglophone Cameroon' (Page,2020). This was a really eye opening article that emphasised how important it is to view women in the history of the ‘production of water’ as they are not just simply users but also were and are still key actors in efforts to implement water infrastructure. 

Production of water refers to the 'social arrangements that govern the use of water...regulating the way people behave around water sources, the committees that decide the allocation of resources, the local values of water and the cultural meanings associated with it (Page, 2020).

Naked power: Nudity as a form of political protest

In the small Cameroonian town of Tombel in 1959, a woman stripped off her dress and stood naked in front of a crowd in protest of the failure to install a piped water supply for the past three decades. This was followed by a few old women who then marched naked. The next day the governments water engineers fled town, and had not returned since. This resulted in a new water system being implemented a few years later. So, how and why did this happen?

The social structures in Cameroon suggest that men hold a powerful position, yet women still find ways to express their opinions through rituals of resistance. This intends to humiliate individual men through cultural beliefs. By using nudity, they have 'articulated their demands in an effective way despite having no formal control over decision making'. 

By using the language of insult to provoke politicians, it led to the prime minster, Foncha, subsequently lobbying hard for the water pipes in Tombel.

 

What can we learn from this?

While generally, it is stated that women were not included in the past of water infrastructure, this can dangerously erase efforts such as those of the women in Tombel.

Firstly, development policy to be effective need to transcend the perception that women are only connected to water policy and history through their role as water consumers. The casual disregard by development projects of history such as the women of Tombel can omit the fact that women have taken direct action to achieve what they want; free access to water. This can be disempowering because it neglects the tradition through which women have coerced and persuaded men to implement water infrastructure.

Secondly this case study highlights the importance of expanding the understanding of production of water to reveal the crucial role women have played in the past. It is important to extend the notion beyond infrastructure and include more indirect roles women often undertake such as managing finances and feeding workers. It is this past involvement which may underpin their present claims to rights like ownership or access.