Abstract

GARCIA DAVILA, Alejandrina  and  VAZQUEZ GARCIA, Verónica. The human right to potable water and social inequality in San Jerónimo Tecóatl, Oaxaca. Cuicuilco. Rev. cienc. antropol. [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.68, pp.157-176. ISSN 2448-8488.

In 2010, the United Nations (UN) acknowledged the human right to water and urged nation states to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water, as well as sanitation for all. In 2012, the Mexican Constitution was reformed to guarantee this right. This paper examines how social inequality hinders the exercise of the said human right to water in San Jerónimo Tecóatl, a municipality located in the Mazatec Sierra in the State of Oaxaca. Data was gathered using quantitative and qualitative techniques: open-ended interviews, closed questionnaires and workshops, along with tours throughout the Mazatec territory. The analysis focuses on three expressions of inequality: rurality, ethnicity and gender. Regarding the first, the paper shows that the potable water network was not established until the 1980s, and that to this day it provides a poor service, with water shortages for as much as three months per year. Second, the Mazatec territory was fractionalized and indigenous forms of organization regarding water management were weakened due to the construction of dams and the professionalization of municipal governments. Third, the female population is the most affected by water shortages and has no decision-making power with regard to water management. The paper concludes that the social inequalities expressed in terms of rurality, ethnic and gender differences, hinder the full exercise of the human right to water in this area.

Keywords : Rurality; gender; ethnicity; water; human rights.

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