The aim of this article is to analyse the persistence of the traditional division of domestic labour. The low appreciation of life reproduction activities, such as motherhood, and care and care for others, combined with conditions of marginalisation, leads to an increase in work burdens and reduces women’s chances of empowerment. Also, poor distribution of resources such as water, combined with water scarcity and poor quality, are hampering the achievement of gender equality. The theoretical link between gender, institutionalism and marginality, as well as the selection of the study case, represent the most relevant inputs of this work, in that they show the impact that the functioning of the water distribution institution has on women, in that it reinforces the habit and the cultural norm that makes them responsible for resolving the supply of water inside their homes. An analysis is carried out of the gender problem faced by women heads of family with regard to domestic water in five marginalised colonies in the city of La Paz, in which a total of 42 questionnaires were applied, which led to the conclusion that women heads of marginalised households, in addition to the overload of domestic work and care resulting from the insufficient and poor supply of water supplied by the operator, must face the costs arising both from all the daily steps they take to ensure that the water they receive reaches to meet their minimum needs, and from the expenditure represented by the consumption of bottled water from local or neighbourhood purifying plants.