{"id":58508,"date":"2026-08-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/?p=58508"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:01:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T01:01:35","slug":"the-forgotten-gender-gap-in-water-from-the-workforce-to-water-governance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/the-forgotten-gender-gap-in-water-from-the-workforce-to-water-governance\/","title":{"rendered":"The forgotten gender gap in water: From the workforce to water governance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For decades, the debate on gender and water has rightly focused on women and girls as water users. Access to drinking water and sanitation has been a priority on the international agenda and an essential component of Sustainable Development Goal 6. However, there is one dimension that remains absent from this debate: women as professionals in the water sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, thousands of women are engineers, hydrologists, scientists, entrepreneurs, community leaders, and public policymakers. They negotiate transboundary water agreements, head water utilities, develop new technologies, and design policies for more equitable and sustainable water management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And yet, a profound contradiction persists. Although women play an increasingly important role in water research, management, and governance, they continue to be significantly underrepresented in technical, leadership, and decision-making positions. UNESCO\u2019s 2026 United Nations World Water Development Report<\/em> points out that, globally, less than 20% of staff at water utilities are women and that, in 2018\u20132019, women accounted for just 17.7% of this workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, two out of every three countries need to increase their water, sanitation, and hygiene workforce by at least 75%, while 40% acknowledge that they lack sufficient capacity to manage the growing conflicts between different water uses. In other words, the sector urgently needs more professionals, yet it continues to underutilize a significant share of the available talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not merely a matter of equality; it is a matter of governance<\/a>, innovation, and institutional resilience. Climate change, urban growth, aging infrastructure, and digital transformation require organizations capable of attracting and retaining the best talent available. Yet we still know very little about women\u2019s career trajectories in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do they remain underrepresented in management positions? What workplace policies actually support their professional development? How does greater diversity influence the quality of decisions and the performance of institutions responsible for water management? What institutional, cultural, and organizational barriers continue to limit their professional development?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is still little comparable data on recruitment, promotion, leadership, compensation, or organizational culture in the water sector. Without evidence, it is difficult to design public and institutional policies that can fully harness the available talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professional associations can also help close this knowledge gap. Networks such as the Women in Water & Sanitation Network (WWSN) demonstrate the value of connecting women professionals through mentoring, leadership, and experience-sharing programs. Similarly, the Network of Women Political Scientists has helped raise the profile of women experts and promote more equitable participation in decision-making spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consequences of this gap go far beyond gender equality. By failing to attract, retain, and promote more women, the water sector is missing an opportunity to strengthen its workforce precisely when it needs it most. It is a loss for women professionals, but also for institutions, communities, countries, and, ultimately, global water security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women remain underrepresented not only in the private sector, but also in public institutions, scientific leadership, political decision-making spaces, and international conferences. Their limited presence restricts the diversity of perspectives needed to address increasingly complex water-related challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2026 United Nations Water Conference<\/a> represents an opportunity to change this reality. In addition to discussing financing, resilience, and governance, it should promote an international research agenda on women in the water workforce and incorporate this dimension into future processes for monitoring water governance. Understanding who works in the sector, what obstacles they face, and what conditions foster their leadership will make it possible to design better workplace policies and strengthen the institutions responsible for ensuring water security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing the gender gap in the water workforce is not merely a matter of social justice. It is a necessary condition for building stronger, more innovative institutions capable of responding to the growing water challenges of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future of water will depend not only on infrastructure, financing, or technology. It will also depend on our ability to recognize, retain, and empower the women who are already building that future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The gender gap in the water sector does not only disadvantage women; it also limits institutions\u2019 ability to address the growing water crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":939,"featured_media":58486,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16998,17064],"tags":[15635],"gps":[],"class_list":["post-58508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genero-en","category-agua-en","tag-debates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/939"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58510,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58508\/revisions\/58510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58508"},{"taxonomy":"gps","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gps?post=58508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}