Amber Wutich School of Human Evolution and Social Change Arizona State University Intrahousehold Disparities in Women and Men’s Experiences of Water Insecurity and Emotional Distress in Urban Bolivia This study is one of the first to examine the links connecting water insecurity, gender, and emotional distress. The article presents quantitative and qualitative analyses of interview data collected from randomly selected pairs of male and female household heads ( n = 48) living under the same household-level conditions of water insecurity. The results provide partial confirmation of past findings that women are more likely than men to be burdened with everyday water responsibilities. However, there were no significant differences between men’s and women’s experiences in household water emergencies (i.e., water shortages and last-ditch attempts to buy water) and reports on some measures of emotional distress (i.e., worry, annoyance, and anger with family members). The results suggest that intrahousehold gender disparities may be mitigated in times of severe water scarcity. The discussion raises questions about the comparability of men’s and women’s expressions of emotional distress. Keywords: [gender; water scarcity; social suffering; Cochabamba; urban poverty] Experiences of social inequity and injustice undermine well-being in a variety of ways (Kleinman et al. 1997). For instance, recent research reveals that poverty and food insecurity are associated with emotional distress, anxiety, and depression (Coates et al. 2006; Hadley and Patil 2006; Patel and Kleinman 2003). In com- parison, very little research has examined the effects of water insecurity on mental well-being. Although the biophysical impacts of water insecurity—which include at least two million deaths and four billion cases of diarrhea annually (Gleick 2004)— are well understood, we know less about the impacts of water insecurity on mental health. If water insecurity is linked to negative mental health outcomes, as find- ings now suggest (e.g., Ennis-McMillan 2001, 2006), the health-related costs of water insecurity could be even higher than previously anticipated. Because gender is widely recognized to play an important role in shaping water access and use (Wallace and Coles 2005), women and men may experience water-related stressors in very different ways. This article examines intrahousehold variation in gendered experiences of water insecurity and emotional distress among the urban poor in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a city famous for a revolt over inequities in the water sector in 2000 (Assies 2003). This study answers a call for more research examining the 436 MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Vol. 23, Issue 4, pp. 436–454, ISSN 0745- 5194, online ISSN 1548-1387. C  2009 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1387.2009.01072.x