Gender in water and sanitation : mainstreaming gender in water and sanitation

Gender in water and sanitation highlights in brief form, approaches to redressing gender inequality in the water and sanitation sector. It is a working paper as the
Water and Sanitation Program and its partners continue to explore and document emerging practice from the field. The review is intended for easy reference by sector ministries, donors, citizens, development banks, non-governmental organizations and water and sanitation service providers committed to mainstreaming gender in the sector. Gender is a concept that refers to socially constructed roles, behavior, activities and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate and ascribes to men and women. These distinct roles and the relations between them may give rise to gender inequalities where one group is systematically favored and holds advantages over another. Inequality in the position of men and women can and has worked against societies’ progress as a whole. One study argues that the fact that women in Kenya during the 1960–92 period did not, on average, complete as many years of schooling as men, accounts for almost one percentage point difference between the long-term growth potential of Kenya and that of high performing Asian economies. [authors abstract]