Gender equity and women’s empowerment in water resources management is one of the cornerstones of the Dublin-Rio principles and is accepted as one of the essential pillars to poverty eradication and sustainable development. The World Bank views gender equality as smart economics, in that failure to empower half the world’s population leads to lower productivity, lower economic growth, and weaker development outcomes. (GWP 2011)

Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management

Women tend to have less access than men to formal decision-making authorities and are less involved in local decision-making structures. Gender mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in all areas and at all levels (global, national, institutional, community, household). It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality by transforming the mainstream. (GWA & UNPD 2006)

Main points for gender mainstreaming:

• Focus on men AND women (not just on women!)
• Including gender sensitivity into IWRM planning process
• Bring women into management and policy making in order to hear their opinions
• Empowerment - empower women through supporting their own initiatives thus fostering self-reliance. Women’s experiences influenced by factors

(GWA & UNPD 2006)