Bringing women to the helm of water management

World Water Day, held on March 22 every year to raise awareness of, and drive action on, global water issues, is a global wake-up call. This year’s theme is “Water and gender”, with the campaign slogan being “Where water flows, equality grows”. It focuses on the critical link between gender equality and water access, advocating for bringing women and girls into leadership in water management and decision-making. The theme has strong linkages with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 5 (gender equality) and 6 (clean water and sanitation).

Though access to safe water is a human right, 2.1 billion people (around 25% of the world’s population) still live without safe drinking water. The global water crisis affects everyone, but not equally. Where people lack the rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, inequalities flourish with women and girls bearing the major impacts from restrictions on, and sacrifice of, their education, health, safety, and economic opportunities.

Generally, women collect and manage water (especially in the domestic sector) and take care of people made sick by unsafe water. However, too often, the systems that govern water leave women and girls out of decision-making, leadership, funding and representation, which is not acceptable. This makes the water crisis a women’s crisis. What is needed is a transformative, rights-based approach to solve these challenges, with due consideration of women’s voices. All women must be impartially and equitably represented in different levels of water leadership.

Women farmers

The United Nations has declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer to recognise and empower women’s vital contributions to global agriculture and food systems. India has been witnessing large-scale migration of men from villages to cities in search of better livelihood options, compelling women to play a critical role in irrigation, water management, and agriculture and allied activities, including livestock and inland fisheries. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, women constitute nearly 41% of the global agri-food workforce, yet they often encounter limited access to land, credit, education, technology, and markets. Closing these gaps could increase productivity by up to 30%, reduce global hunger for 150 million people and boost economic resiliencies for rural communities.

Bordering the fragile Himalayas and a long coastline, India’s vast and diversified geography is highly vulnerable to climate change. More than 80% of India’s people live in districts that are at risk of climate-induced disasters. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, declining groundwater levels, retreating glaciers, intense cyclones and sea-level rise can precipitate major crises for livelihoods, food security and economy, and the major victims are women.

These changes are already impacting crop yields and nutritional quality. Studies infer that without significant climate adaptation measures, rain-fed rice yields could drop by 20%, wheat yields by 19% and maize yields by 18% by 2050. These impacts are major threats to global food and nutrient security. Economic surveys reveal that in India, the annual losses due to the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture come to $9-10 billion.

Realising these escalating threats, the Government of India has initiated several schemes to enhance climate-resilient agriculture and the major ones are: National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture, and the Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme. Besides, international agencies, including the World Bank, had been actively supporting climate resilient agriculture in India.

The ongoing projects include Rejuvenating Watershed for Agricultural Resilience through Innovative Development Programme to help national and State institutions to adopt improved watershed management practices to increase farmers’ resilience to climate change and promote higher productivity and better income; the Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation Project enhances productivity and climate resilience of irrigated agriculture and improves water management; Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture on access to climate-resilient seed varieties and production technologies; Kerala Climate-resilient Agri-value Chain Modernization Project to adopt the climate change and promote agri-entrepreneurship; and the International Rice Research Institute’s project to provide technical support for scaling up sustainable and climate-resilient rice-based cropping systems.

The appreciable factor is that all these projects give special priority and representation to women, and it will help in enhancing their leadership in water and crop management during extreme climate impacts (flood and droughts) through the adaptation of innovative climate-resilient agriculture practices, which help in sustaining food and nutritional security.

The lower percentage of women water professionals in South Asia is recognised as one of the constraints for gender sensitive water management. At the same time, there is very little understanding among women water professionals about the scientific knowledge on water at the macro level. Most of the studies remain restricted to women’s participation in community-based water programmes.

After realising this fact, the South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies in India and Irrigation and Water Engineering Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands have implemented the Crossing Boundaries Project in South Asia with an aim to contribute in capacity building on “Integrated water resources management and gender and water” through higher education, research, knowledge-based development and networking. The project was funded by a grant-assistance from the Government of the Netherlands.

Six South Asian institutions — Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in Bangladesh, Centre for Water Resources of Anna University in India, Nepal Engineering College in Nepal, Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India — are partners in the project.

Through this project (2002-2007), around 200 women water professionals obtained their Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in integrated water resources management with fellowships. Subsequently, the programme has been escalated in many academic and research institutions in South Asia. Most of the women water professionals, who are part of this programme, are with the Water Resources departments in the government and non-governmental sectors and universities and contributing significantly to water resources decision making (planning and management).

The way forward

Water is an unavoidable element for the existence of human life (drinking, hygiene and sanitation and clean environment) and various economic activities (agriculture, livestock, fisheries and water intensive industries) which drive human development and welfare. Hence, water is a nucleus of stabilising society, where women’s role is also significant. Realising the strong logical linkages between women and water, the need for women’s participation in multiple layers of water governance should be accepted and promoted by various levels of governments and the public at large.

Prakash Nelliyat is a former Fellow, Centre for Biodiversity Policy and Law at the National Biodiversity Authority, Chennai; views expressed are personal

Published – March 25, 2026 12:20 am IST