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Mind the Gap

UNESCO/WWAP

By IW:LEARN

October 15^th, 2019

We all know of the existence of the “gender gap”, but what about the “sex-disaggregated water data” gap?

One of the key obstacles to the development of gender-responsive* and evidence-based policies is the lack of sex-disaggregated water data. Along with a growing understanding of the necessity of gender statistics in the water sector, efforts to close this gap are gaining momentum. However, the availability of reliable and comparable data remains critically low, forming one of the key barriers to a more robust gender-integrated national and international water policy regime.

Recently, during the 2019 World Water Week, the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) officially launched its 2019 Toolkit on Sex-disaggregated Water Data, designed to tackle the water and gender information gap, and intended to help decision makers adopt data-driven, gender-transformative water policies and reach those left behind.

The new Toolkit consists of four Tools:

Tool 1: Gender-responsive indicators for water assessment, monitoring and reporting

Tool 2: Methodology for the collection of sex-disaggregated water data

Tool 3: Guidelines on the collection of sex-disaggregated water data

Tool 4: Questionnaire for the collection of sex-disaggregated water data

A set of 105 gender-responsive indicators (Tool 1) was developed for 10 priority topics:

Gender-responsive water governance;
Safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene;
Gender-specific knowledge resources;
Transboundary water management;
Water for agricultural uses;
Water for industry and enterprise;
Human rights-based water resources management;
Water, migration, displacement and climate change;
Indigenous and traditional knowledge, and community water rights;
Water education and training.

The new indicators aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were introduced and existing ones improved and simplified based on lessons learned from the field testing.

Tool 2: Methodology provides the conceptual framework for the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated water data, taking into account social norms and cultural variables that reflect existing gender biases. The foundations of the methodology consist of valuing both social and physical knowledge, combining quantitative and qualitative information, macro as well as micro data, and ‘lifting the roof off the household’. The latter implies acknowledging each household member’s different levels of authority and responsibility and its repercussions on decision-making.

Tool 3: Guidelines provides guidance on how to collect sex-disaggregated data and information relevant to the water-related indicators. It suggests specific processes to be followed and methods to be used in order to guarantee universal application of the methodology by ensuring the collected data to be authentic, of good quality and collected in an ethical manner.

Tool 4: Questionnaire is a practical tool that allows the collection of data in the field through 364 guided questions for conducting surveys through different data collection methods. It breaks down each of the gender-responsive indicators in straightforward questions that enable the collection of quantitative and qualitative sex-disaggregated water data.

WWAP developed this second edition of its internationally recognized Toolkit on sex-disaggregated water data, to further close the existing gender water data gap, and to:

Address the interlinked nature of the Goals and Targets of the Agenda 2030;
Incorporate the findings of field surveys in several countries in Southern Africa, Central America and Central Asia.

Water and Gender Capacity Training

Lessons learned from the Toolkit field-testing show that, in order to support the formulation of gender-responsive and evidence-based water policies or programmes, capacity development support is urgently needed on national, regional and transboundary levels. In line with this, WWAP offers a dedicated Capacity Development Programme (in English, French, Spanish, Chinese) to strengthen the capacity in this field, support the integration of gender-responsive indicators into national strategies and policies, as well as promote the achievement of SDG 6.

The capacity development programme consists of 7 macro-modules covering key topics, including gender analysis and mainstreaming, data collection, analysis and interpretation, and evidenced-based policy development. The trainings are designed to be region-, user-, and objective-specific. Hundreds of representatives from government institutions, non-governmental organizations, academia and UN agencies have been trained in several countries in Africa, Central America and Asia.

“I teach a course entitled Water, Human Security and Development wherein a module is devoted to 'Gender and Water'. Through the application of WWAP Toolkit, students are able to produce gender-sensitive basin management plans. The methodology and tools developed by WWAP on the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated water data are instrumental in developing data-driven plans and policies that take into account men’s and women’s needs and interests.”

- Mr. Larry A. Swatuk, Professor, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED). Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Canada.

For more information on WWAP's gender activities, visit their website. Additionally, the GEF IW:LEARN Gender Series can be accessed here. To contact WWAP directly, please email Michela Miletto (WWAP Coordinator a.i.) or Laurens Thuy (Gender and Communication).

*Being gender-responsive means that rather than only identify gender issues or work under the “the do not do harm” principle, a process will substantially help to overcome historical gender biases—to “do better,” so to speak—in order for women to truly engage and benefit from these actions. (Source: genderandenvironment.org.)