UN Headquarters

Water insecurity disproportionately affects women and girls, in terms of the likelihood of food insecurity, personal safety concerns, vulnerability to disasters, and water-borne disease risks. Similarly, women are significantly underrepresented in water leadership roles, where critical decisions on water investments and allocation of water resources are made. Addressing these inequalities, including access to safely managed water supply, sanitation, and water resources, and ensuring that women are well-represented as water leaders, policymakers, and professionals is essential to accelerate progress on SDGs, particularly SDG 6.

The session focused on:

(i) how to better measure and track gendered dimensions of women’s water insecurity, and women’s representation in water leadership and policymaking roles, including the need for enhanced data collection efforts and establishing baselines (ii) sharing case studies on transformative practices, which have good potential for scale-up and replication, to enhance women’s leadership and water resilience and security, including countries’ experiences in implementing efforts to promote gender equality in the water sector and foster women’s participation in policy making.

The session brought together member states and other organizations that are part of the Inclusion Roundtable that was launched at Stockholm World Water Week in 2022. These are a network of organizations drawn from governments, international organizations, think tanks, civil society organizations, private sector entities, and others, which were formed to work together to promote inclusion in water collectively.

Organizers: Water and Sanitation Agency (Brazil), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Regulatory Office (Philippines), ADB, Australian Water Partnership, Asia Pacific Water Forum, Deltares, Global Water Partnership, International Water Management Institute, Northwestern University, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Sanitation and Water For All, Public UtilitiesBoard Singapore, Stockholm International Water Institute, University of Technology Sydney, WaterEnvironment Federation, World Health Organization United Nations Children’s Fund, UN-Water, UnitedNational Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.

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