New dams tend to aggravate existing gender inequalities and increase rather than close gender gaps, writes researcher Lyla Mehta. Since 1991 she has followed the lives of several families who were displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam, cataloging how women were not compensated for non-monetized resources (such as land use rights to communal property) in the resettlement sites and struggle to raise children without the clean water and forest resources of their ancestral village. Though some women enjoyed increased leisure time after moving, displacement also often encourages alcoholism and an uptick in sexual violence. But some women, like Chittaroopa Pali of Narmada Bacha Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement) are leading successful nonviolent campaigns to protect their land and communities. Photo credit: Karen Robinson
