Explainer: Why gender equality is key to solving the water crisis

Date: Wednesday, 17 June 2026

Water is essential to life. But for millions of women and girls, access to it remains unequal—shaping their health, time, safety, and opportunities.

In Europe and Central Asia alone, an estimated 15.2 million women still lack access to safely managed drinking water, with rural women disproportionately affected¹. Behind these numbers lies a deeper truth: water is not gender-neutral. It both reflects and reinforces gender inequalities.

A woman draws a glass of water at a wall tap—an everyday act that remains unequal for the 15.2 million women in Europe and Central Asia who still lack safely managed drinking water. Photo: UN Women/Tako Robakidze.

A growing crisis with unequal impacts

The global water crisis—driven by climate change, environmental degradation, population growth, and mismanagement—is intensifying existing inequalities.

Women and girls often depend more heavily on natural resources for household survival and livelihoods, yet they have less access to land, credit, and decision-making power. As water becomes scarcer, these disadvantages deepen.

Globally, an estimated 380 million women and girls already live in areas of high or critical water stress—a number projected to rise significantly by 2050.

In Central Asia, one of the most water-stressed subregions, nearly half the population lives under high water stress. Inefficient systems worsen the situation, with up to 40–50 per cent of water lost due to outdated infrastructure.

Despite these challenges, women are not only on the frontlines of the crisis—they are also leading practical solutions in their communities. In Tajikistan, rural leader Sabohat Mirzokulova is working to promote water-saving practices:

“I want to introduce drip irrigation in every household. I am ready to help and demonstrate its benefits in practice. It is an effective solution for saving water and reducing household costs.”

Water, health and human rights

A rural woman washes her hands at a household tank, a reminder that safe water and hygiene are a basic human right and a cornerstone of women's health and dignity. Photo: UN Women/Tako Robakidze.

Access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene is a fundamental human right—and a cornerstone of gender equality.

Yet gaps remain stark. In 2019, more than 20,500 women across 52 UNECE countries died from causes linked to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene². In nearly half of these countries, women faced higher mortality risks than men.

Limited access to hygiene facilities further deepens inequalities. In Uzbekistan, Moldova, and Tajikistan alone, an estimated 5 million women lack basic handwashing facilities at home—heightening exposure to preventable diseases³.

Water and sanitation are also essential for dignity and participation in public life. For women and girls managing menstrual health, the absence of safe and private facilities can restrict mobility, education, and employment.

Time poverty and unequal care responsibilities

A woman and child tend their plot in Central Asia, where women are leading water-saving practices even as the region faces some of the world's deepest water stress. Photo: UN Women/Bektur Zhanibekov.

Around the world, 1.8 billion people do not have drinking water at home. In most households, it is women and girls who collect it—spending 250 million hours every day fetching water. Girls under 15 are nearly twice as likely as boys to bear this responsibility.

Fetching, storing, and rationing water are part of unpaid care and domestic work—limiting women’s time for education, paid employment, and rest. These invisible labour shapes life trajectories, often forcing women and girls to make constrained choices.

Ainura Ergesheva, a rural woman from Batken, Kyrgyzstan, has adapted her daily routines to cope with water scarcity:

“Washing machines use too much water, so I wash by hand,” she explains. “For irrigation, we are given only one hour... Then you pass it on. The whole village relies on those precious minutes—there must be enough water for all.”

Water insecurity is also a safety issue

A woman waters her garden, reflecting the daily water management women lead in their communities even as they remain largely absent from water data and decision-making. Photo: UN Women/Tako Robakidze.

When water sources are distant or unreliable, women and girls must travel longer distances, increasing their exposure to harassment, violence, and injury. The lack of safe sanitation facilities—especially in rural and crisis settings—further undermines their dignity and security.

In fragile contexts, competition over water can fuel tensions. In Central Asia, disputes linked to water infrastructure have contributed to local conflicts and displacement. In Ukraine, damage to water systems has made access more difficult, disproportionately affecting women in their roles as caregivers.

Women - central to solutions, missing from data and decisions

A woman pulls in her net along the river, where women's livelihoods—and the unpaid labour of fetching and managing water—depend directly on reliable access to it. Photo: UN Women/Dragana B. Stevanovic.

Women manage water daily in homes and communities—yet remain underrepresented in data, decision-making and governance. In 2023, 14 out of 50 UNECE countries reported very low to medium-low gender integration in water governance⁴. At the same time, Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) lacks gender-specific indicators, and most data is collected at household level—masking who actually collects, manages, and is impacted by water scarcity.

“I have seen how having a say in water management empowers women. But also, how women are primarily seen as victims rather than the agents of change,” shares Alice Bouman-Dentener, a biologist/ethologist from the Netherlands.

The way forward: from access to equality

Achieving SDG 6 requires gender-responsive systems. This includes:

Recognizing water and sanitation as human rights for all women and girls
Recognizing, reducing and redistributing unequal care work linked to water access
Integrating gender equality into policies, budgets, and governance
Investing in sex-disaggregated and time-use data
Promoting women’s leadership at all levels of decision-making

An estimated $1.04 trillion annual investment is needed to achieve sustainable water resources management by 2030. Governments, development partners, and communities must act now — turning the water crisis into an opportunity for more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable societies.

With just four years left until the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development deadline, it is worth asking how much progress has been made - and what challenges remain. Ahead of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, taking place from 7 to 15 July, several goals will be reviewed in-depth, including SDG 6: ensuring access to water and sanitation for all.

¹ UN Women calculations using the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) database, 2026. Global SDG Indicators Database.
² ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ ibid.