The Transformative Potential of Women in Water Resource Management

Mar 7, 2019 | Callum Clench
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Water sits at the heart of our world and is a central tenet across the breadth of all the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Access to clean water and sanitation is not just a stand-alone objective (SDG 6); it is a pre-requisite for achieving many of the SDGs, including poverty alleviation (SDG 1), hunger relief (SDG 2), health and well-being (SDG 3), a quality education (SDG 4) and affordable and economic development (SDG 9).

In addition, we must look at water through the lens of gender equality (SDG 5). There can be no greater constituency impacted by water-related issues and the SDGs than women. It is time for women not only to advise but to lead efforts in addressing the testing complexities of water resource management.

Women are routinely exposed to the hazards and diseases associated with dirty drinking water and waste water as the principal bread winner of a family, the principal carer and principal waste manager. Such arduous responsibilities make women uniquely placed to be the standard bearers of safe water management and the frontline advocates in changing behaviors and addressing root causes of water scarcity and water-related diseases.