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Water inequality as structural failure
We live in an era of ‘global water bankruptcy’, where chronic over-extraction, pollution, ecosystem degradation, and climate disruption have pushed hydrological systems beyond historical baselines. Even where water is physically available, access remains severely limited and unequal. The 2025 WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) depicts that 2.1 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water services, including 106 million who drink directly from untreated surface sources.
Access to water is a human right and an essential condition for human dignity and the enjoyment of all other rights. Yet for many, it is a daily struggle: long walks at dawn, dry taps, broken pumps or unaffordable bills. This forces harsh trade-offs - boiling unsafe water amid fuel scarcity or risking illness. These gaps arise from deliberate political choices that devalue lives and limit opportunities, especially for women and girls.
Furthermore, most water governance systems marginalize women and girls, perpetuating inequalities and undermining progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Globally, only 27% of countries have achieved gender objectives in their water management frameworks, while 14% have limited or no gender mainstreaming mechanisms.
Inequality in access to clean water and sanitation thus represents a fundamental structural and governance failure. Promoting inclusive and equity-focused governance is indispensable to ensure resilient and sustainable outcomes for all, accounting for the varied realities of women and girls across intersecting identities.
From duty-bearers and political exclusion to decision-makers
Women and girls disproportionately endure water insecurity, influenced by entrenched gender norms, systemic inequalities and infrastructure gaps. In many contexts, they bear the primary responsibility for water collection, devoting 250 million hours daily to the task, over three times more than men and boys. In conflict and climate-stressed settings, these household realities are even more intense, intersecting with broader insecurities. Moreover, burdens fall unevenly among indigenous, elderly, rural, informal-settlement, and disabled women and girls, though data gaps obscure these intersectional realities.
By way of example, inequalities intensify during armed conflicts, where water infrastructure is deliberately targeted or weaponized, threatening civilian survival and dignity, causing disease outbreaks, livelihood disruptions, displacement and impact long-term peacebuilding; and by climate change, which accelerates the hydrological cycle, leading to erratic precipitation, prolonged droughts, and extreme events that heighten scarcity, perpetuate gender inequality, and poses unique threats to women's and girls' livelihoods, safety and security (Report of the UN Secretary-General, para.78).
Policies frequently portray women and girls as passive recipients rather than rights-holders and political actors. For instance, indigenous women, key custodians of community water knowledge, remain largely excluded from formal structures. In Africa, women head only 17% of national water and sanitation ministries, with just one of eleven transboundary water organizations under female leadership.
However, robust evidence indicates that meaningful participation of women and girls transforms outcomes. Gender equality in water governance enhances institutional resilience and legitimacy. In Central Asia, women’s leadership has bolstered the Chu-Talas Water Commission’s effectiveness as a model of transboundary cooperation. In Yemen, women have been driving recovery and resilience negotiating water access during conflict. Broader evidence confirms that their participation in peace processes yields more durable and sustainable outcomes.
These examples highlight a structural dynamic - exclusion weakens systems and perpetuates instability; inclusion ensures equitable benefits, reduces poverty and supports sustainable development. While progress is evident, challenges persist, including entrenched hierarchies, cultural biases, and tokenistic engagement that limit substantive authority. Achieving genuine equity necessitates breaking these barriers to elevate women and girls as leaders and authoritative decision-makers across scales, from local committees to transboundary commissions and peace negotiations. Critically, this requires addressing potential resistance in patriarchal contexts and ensuring intersectional approaches to avoid unintended exclusions.
Reframing water governance and diplomacy through a human rights-based approach
The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, Art 14.2 (h)) was the first international treaty to explicitly affirm the right to water. Building on CEDAW and treaties like the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights elaborated this right in General Comment No.15 (2003). The right to water encompasses multiple dimensions, imposing tripartite state obligations: to respect, protect, and progressively fulfil it, prioritizing marginalized groups and barring retrogressive measures (General Comment No.15, para 2). States must also refrain from using water as a tool of political or economic pressure (paras 31-32), take joint and separate action through international cooperation (para 30), and ensure that international financial institutions integrate the right to water in lending policies (para 36). Moreover, in transboundary contexts, States should take preventive measures, consult women in impact assessments and take mitigation or compensation measures where harm occurs.
Although several States have reflected the right to water affirmed in international treaties in their national constitutions and legislation, implementation remains uneven. The disparity between normative commitment and operational practice is inherently political, not merely technical. Without structural reform, rights often remain aspirational. Adopting a human rights-based approach shifts water governance relying on discretionary policies toward a legal and institutional framework based on clear rules and principles enshrined in international and domestic laws. As per the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, the right to water aims to ensure ‘equal participation, transparency, accountability and access to information’ (para 24), which empowers rights-holders, tackles discriminatory practices and addresses root causes of exclusion.
In light of the above, the Geneva Water Hub is committed to advance the role of women and girls in water governance together with initiatives such as the Women in Water Diplomacy Network. For the centre, the promotion of equality is not merely a matter of policy or gender mainstreaming. Through the ratification of international treaties and national legislations, States have obligations to fulfil the core principles of non-discrimination, accountability and substantive equality. By recognizing women and girls as rights-holders and decision-makers, the Hub aims at advancing water governance and diplomacy based on international law, preventing conflicts over scarce resources, and supporting peacebuilding and development efforts.
Way forward to ensure equality and equity
The preceding discussion has demonstrated the existing failures in water governance, the disproportionate burdens on women and girls, their systemic exclusion from decision-making, and the political nature of persistent gaps. Realizing inclusive, equitable and rights-aligned water governance that prevents instability and fosters peace, requires taking bold measures.
First, representation must move beyond tokenism, and meaningful participation and consultation of women in water user associations, basin authorities, utilities and transboundary commissions must be ensured. This includes establishing parity targets or quotas, integrating gender-responsive budgeting, guaranteeing consultation rights in decision-making processes, and embedding the right to water in national legal frameworks.
Second, investment priorities must shift, and international cooperation and assistance should be strengthened, to ensure the realization of the human right to water for all, and climate adaptation strategies.
Third, water must be elevated as a foundational element in the Women, Peace and Security agenda (S/RES/1325 (2000). Peace agreements with women’s meaningful participation are statistically more durable and comprehensive. Furthermore, inclusive water governance builds legitimacy and reduces conflict.
Finally, there is a need for gender-disaggregated water data. Without robust data, inequalities remain invisible.
Conclusion
Water does not generate peace merely by flowing; it generates peace when governed with justice, accountability, and inclusion. Centring women and girls at all levels of water governance is not a symbolic gesture; it is a duty rooted in human rights law, a pragmatic strategy for building resilience in a climate-constrained world as climate change intensifies, and a precondition for peace and stability.
Yet with just four years remaining to 2030, SDG 6 remains significantly off track while SDG 5 faces regression risks amid stalled investments and systemic neglect. The future of water governance will not be determined by hydrology alone; it will be determined by the inclusion and meaningful participation of right holders. As the International Decade for Action - Water for Sustainable Development (2018–2028) enters its final phase, World Water Day 2026 and the UN Water Conference must become pivotal turning points, translating longstanding commitments into concrete, equitable actions that advance both water justice and lasting peace.
Bios
Tadesse Kebebew is a Project Manager at the Geneva Water Hub. His research focuses on the protection of water in armed conflict under international law, including international humanitarian law. He currently leads a project analysing the civilian and environmental impacts of attacks on or damage to water systems. He holds a PhD in International Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute.
Caroline Pellaton is a water governance and humanitarian expert with over 15 years of international experience spanning hydrodiplomacy, water infrastructure, and conflict settings. She currently serves as Operations Director at the Geneva Water Hub, where she leads strategic development and oversees programmes focused on the protection of water in armed conflict, engaging with international partners including the ICRC, UNICEF, and diplomatic missions in Geneva and New York. Previously, Caroline spent a decade with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), holding senior Water and Habitat coordination roles across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, including Yemen, Jordan, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Niger, and Sri Lanka. She has led multidisciplinary teams, designed and implemented large-scale urban and rural water projects, and managed complex operations in conflict-affected environments.
Erik Schnetzler is a Project Manager at the Geneva Water Hub, focusing on water and peacemaking, with particular attention to water and mediation, and on elevating Water for Peace in global policy processes. He previously served as an Environment Officer at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and as a consultant on water security with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Programme Office in Astana. He holds an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a BA from the University of Basel, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Water Governance from the University of Geneva.
Mara Tignino is the Scientific Director of the Geneva Water Hub and a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law and the Global Studies Institute at the University of Geneva. She has held visiting professorships at several universities, including Renmin University of China, the University of Barcelona, the Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS), and the Catholic University of Lille, and has been a Visiting Scholar at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. In addition to her academic work, she has served as legal adviser and counsel for States before the International Court of Justice.
