11319 Feminist Water Agenda rethinking discourses on women and water

46 years since Mar Del Plata, a crucial moment in the history of water governance, it is evident that water science, policy and practice have fallen short in delivering on gender and water. Despite some progress, deep-seated gender inequalities, social exclusions, and power dynamics persist in water planning and decision-making, and the situation is worsening. It is unacceptable that women and girls continue to spend an estimated 200 million hours each day collecting water for domestic use. And unfortunately, this sad imagery of a "women-WASH failure" only captures a tip of the iceberg of increasingly complex and intersecting challenges relating to gender and water.

To drive transformative change, we need to stop fitting in gender in the same old water policies and interventions. Join us in visioning a feminist water agenda that will tackle entrenched gender-power dynamics in water politics, policies, institutions, interventions, and innovations by questioning normative wisdom with the lived experiences of the material, physical, emotional, and political aspects of the everyday diverse water experiences of marginalized women. We will use this evidence to re-set institutional patriarchies and address knowledge blind spots in water policy and decision-making.