2.7 Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management

Gender mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, 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 programmes 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 (UNESCO,1997 in GWA 2003a).

Operationalising gender mainstreaming involves:

• Understanding the gender-differentiated systems for access to resources, labour, water uses, water rights, and the distribution of benefits and production.Sex-disaggregated dataand the documentation of unpaid labour are important.
• Focusing on gender relations, not just women.Althoughmany analyses draw attention to women (since it is generallywomen who face disadvantages and women’s views that tend to beoverlooked), a gender analysis looks at the relations (differences,inequalities, power imbalances, differential access to resources,etc.) between and among women and men and how these are negotiated. The position of womencannot be understood in isolation from the broader relationshipsbetween women and men.
• Understanding that gender is a factor that influences how people respond both individually and collectively.Men andwomen face different obstacles and draw on different resourceswhen attempting to participate on a water committee, confront alocal official or attend a training session.
• Understanding the gender dimensions of institutions at all levels in society (within the household, community-based organisations, water users associations, local governments, national civil services, etc.).These formal andinformal institutions play fundamental roles in water resourcesmanagement, yet they have gender dimensions: Who makeswhat decisions? Does the structure facilitate or hinder women’sparticipation? Is there the capacity to reduce inequalities betweenwomen and men in the institutions? How are different needs and perspectivesnegotiated inside institutions? Are institutional policies developed in an inclusive and gender-sensitive manner?
• Confirming or rejecting assumptions in each specific context, ideally using participatory methodologies.Assumptions from one country or project cannot be carried overinto another region or initiative. Furthermore, power relations,working arrangements, and resource availability can change overtime. The specificity of each situation must be investigated.