"Why do we subject ourselves to the rules of international commerce? These treaties are never going to favour us - they aren't for us [women]. We lose our identity, Can't we resolve our own problems the way we usually do..? (Miriam, leader in Cochabamba water revolt)

The so-called "water war" that took place in 2000, when the people of Cochabamba kicked out the private water company Bechtel, has become famous in the annals of the alternative globalisation movement. 

Faced with rent increases of up to 250% and a take-over of communal water supplies imposed by the newly privatised water utility, residents of Cochabamba and its surrounding districts faced soldiers and rising violence to demand the expulsion of the US multinational Bechtel. In April 2000, the government was forced to concede only to be sued months later by Bechtel for $25 million for loss of income.

What is less well known in the story is the role of women in the struggle against water privatisation. A new report by Elyzabeth Peredo Beltrán, Women, Privatisation and Conflict: The Women of Cochabamba Valley recovers their story and draws out the important lessons their struggle holds for the international community as it strives to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people without access to safe, clean drinking water.

The report looks at the context and nature of the privatisation deal before focusing in on how it impacted on women.

In both city and rural areas, women are at the heart of managing water for their communities. The relationship between women and water is an essential part of life from the moment of birth when a woman's waters breaks to the daily use of water for washing, cooking, bathing and growing food.

In a district where water is scarce, women have been forced to develop strategies to provide water for daily life. Women are the ones who get up at 3 or 4am to collect water from the water truck. In rural area, women have also played an increasing role in constructing and maintaining the over 200 local and communal safe drinking water systems as well as the irrigation systems.

It is not surprising then that when the newly privatised company not only increased rates but claimed ownership over the communal drinking and irrigation systems, that rural women were some of the first to protest.

In the words of Vicky: "When we arrived at our water supply in Tiquipaya, we found that soldiers were already there and we were unable to access our water source - a water source that had always been ours, always, from the time before our grandparents... They were taking away our right to water and to life. This could not be allowed to happen."

Throughout the water war, women were involved in organising blockades, talking to the press, confronting the police and organising communal meals. Noticeably they were excluded from the final negotiations between protestors and the Government that led to the expulsion of Bechtel.

However, what the report perhaps highlights more than anything is conflict between two visions of water. One vision laid out by the women of Cochabamba sees water as the essence of life which is managed based on communitarian practices embodying solidarity and sharing. Another vision promoted by international financial institutions like the World Bank sees water as yet another commodity, and an opportunity for business and profit.

In Cochabamba, the struggle was not just against increased prices, it was a struggle of values over something we all depend on for life. At the heart of that struggle were the women of Cochabamba.