A Feminist Agenda to Tackle the World’s Water Crisis

Jan 26, 2024 | Marisa O. Ensor

“The empowerment of women as custodians and protectors of water is achieved through the recognition and fulfilment of their rights.” So proclaims a recent UN Women report emphasizing the need for feminist approaches to addressing the global water crisis – i.e., one that recognizes the vital role that women play in their communities as the main collectors, protectors, and managers of water. If used sustainably, water is the most renewable of all the Earth’s resources. Furthermore, the equitable and sustainable management of natural resources, including water, can reduce the risk of armed conflict.  Humanity has however pushed the global water cycle out of balance. Human-induced climate change aggravated by overexploitation and pollution is intensifying the global water crisis and leading to water insecurity. As noted in a previous post, as water sources dwindle, conditions deteriorate, both in terms of restricted access to clean water and other necessary resources, and in terms of gender equality.

What’s Causing the Global Water Crisis?

Scientific evidence unequivocally shows that human-induced climate change is warming the planet. At the same time, a climate-change driven phenomenon called Hadley Cell expansion is causing clouds to move away from the equator toward the poles. This deprives equatorial regions like sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and the Middle East, of life-sustaining rainwater. Uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) struggle with access to and management of uncontaminated freshwater among their most pressing challenges. The gap between the world’s renewable supply of water and demand is expected to be 40 percent by 2030. Conversely, climate change is also increasing precipitation in other areas, with at least 21 million people worldwide at risk of severe river flooding each year. That number could increase to 54 million by 2030.

Water is the main medium which climate change impacts peoples, societies, and ecosystems. Worsening floods, rising sea levels, shrinking ice fields, changing precipitation patterns and droughts pose risks to biodiversity, water security, and basic human needs, disproportionately affecting vulnerable individuals and communities. Research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) concludes that climate change could trigger a 20-40 percent decline in food and water availability. Chronic water scarcity, hydrological uncertainty, and extreme weather events are increasingly acknowledged as some of the biggest threats to global prosperity and stability. Recognition of the role that water scarcity and drought are playing in aggravating fragility and conflict is also growing.

As the Water for Women Fund reminds us, 90 percent of climate change adaptation action is water related, requiring a comprehensive and integrated approach to water (in)security.  Leveraging the role of water in limiting the impact of climate change on various sectors provides benefits that extend beyond the water sector, encompassing critical aspects of climate adaptation. As I’ve argued elsewhere, women’s leadership in water governance has become even more critical given these current challenges. It is imperative to ensure that women from a diversity of backgrounds be able to participate in water negotiations and contribute to the design and implementation of water-related programs on an equal footing with their male counterparts.

A Feminist Agenda

Well-documented gendered consequences of climate change are manifested through water access and its related complexities. The latest data and projections on the gender and water nexus indicate that the human rights to water and to sanitation are far from realized for many women and girls globally. UN Women estimates that, by 2050, 674 million women and girls will likely live in highly or critically water stressed countries. Additionally, nearly 1 billion women and girls have yet to see their right to safe drinking water realized.

On its current trajectory, the world will undoubtedly fail to achieve both SDG 6 (Sustainable Development Goal on Water and Sanitation), and SDG5 (Sustainable Development Goal on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment) by 2030. Women and girls, overly represented among the poor, and denied an equal voice in water governance, are most at risk. Data show that when tensions rise – e.g., in the case of competition over dwindling resources such as water – women are more likely to face intensified violence within and outside the home, as well as exposure to various forms of exploitation and even trafficking.

Drawing a clear connection between social justice, ecological rights, and women’s rights, UN Water has called for women’s equal representation in water governance, leadership, and decision-making. Gender-responsive water, sanitation, and hygiene can be a catalyst for positive change across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To be effective, partnerships between climate scholars, practitioners and policymakers, the water sector, the peace and conflict community, and the feminist movement are needed. In recent years, numerous global and regional initiatives have heeded this call. These include the UN International Decade for Action: Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028, the UN Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6,  UNESCO’s Call for Action to Accelerate for Gender Equality in the Water Domain, the World Bank’s Equal Aqua platform, and the Women in Water Diplomacy Network.

The Way Forward

Our planet and its water resources are at a breaking point. Climate change threatens to exacerbate the inequalities between women and men’s relationship to water, underscoring the urgent need for gender-transformative global water action in propelling climate adaptation and mitigation forward. A UN Women report promoting a feminist agenda to tackle the world’s water crisis proposes the following recommendations:

1. Enact gender-responsive legal frameworks and institutions to protect and conserve water resources.
2. Reverse unequal and unsustainable production and consumption patterns.
3. Prioritize women and vulnerable populations in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.
4. Tackle gender inequality and other forms of discrimination that exacerbate inequality in accessing safe drinking water and safely managed sanitation services.
5. Promote women’s equal participation and leadership in water governance and management.
6. Bring the diverse perspectives of women activists in local, national, and international decision-making into water governance, including those from marginalized communities.
7. Prioritize safe drinking water and safely managed sanitation and hygiene services in communities, schools, and health centers.
8. Accelerate partnership and cooperation, including through greater financial support.
9. Invest in gender data to inform water and sanitation policy.

These recommendations are opportunities from moving from commitments to action.Meaningfully incorporating gender transformative approaches to water security can help policymakers, development practitioners, and peacebuilders mitigate the risks of environmental insecurity and promote resilient, inclusive, and peaceful societies.

Dr. Marisa O. Ensor is an applied environmental and legal anthropologist currently based at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) where she leads the portfolio on climate security.  She is also the current Chair of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association’s Gender Interest Group (“EnPAx-GIG”).