UNESCO WWAP and University of Pisa invite you to the

International Workshop on Water and Gender, Pisa January 28-31, 2025

Despite advances made through international policy agendas in acknowledging the need to progress towards gender equality in water – and the resulting benefits – large gender inequalities persist in practice. In many parts of the world, women remain under-represented in terms of participation at all levels, from institutional bodies that manage national or transboundary waters, to water-related institutions such as governmental water agencies and water utilities, as well as from local water management institutions.

In other words, international policy discourses favour gender equality and decision-making, however, actual practices still result in unequal access and unbalanced power relations. Meanwhile, conceptual contributions to advancing understanding on this wedge appear to be stagnant.

And yet there are women—as leaders, scientists, researchers, and practitioners—who have been contributing to and promoting knowledge generation, evidence-based action, and the paving of the way to more equal and meaningful participation in diverse water disciplines.

These contradictions raise the following important questions: 

• What is holding progress back?
•  How are academics, practitioners and policymakers interacting or what is preventing more constructive interactions?
• What can we do better?

To this end, in 2021, UNESCO WWAP together with a Multi-stakeholder Coalition launched a global Call for Action to accelerate gender equality in the water domain. Set to culminate in 2030 with the completion date of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the Initiative aims to:

•  Accelerate access to water resources and services, in an inclusive and sustainable manner for all to accelerate progress towards SDG 6 targets;
• Prioritize programmes and investments in systems and social norms changes for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women in the water domain by 2030

The Global Multi-stakeholder Coalition forms a wide-scale community of action that multiplies the members’ individual efforts and provides ample visibility. It consists of -among others- 23 Member States, and more than 160 individual members from over 60 institutions, including international and regional organizations, funding agencies and ODAs, international and local NGOs, private sector, civil society, foundations and academia.

 As part of these efforts, UNESCO WWAP and the University of Pisa are organizing this International Workshop on Water and Gender with the goal of addressing the need for robust conceptual contributions and intersectoral discussions. The event will bring together water and gender scientists, governmental institutions, and practitioners.

The International Workshop will be organized under the concrete actions agreed by the Multi-stakeholder Coalition, in line with the commitments made during the UN 2023 Water Conference of New York.

Additionally, the theme of the 2026 World Water Development Report will address the intersection of two global priorities: the situation of water resources and the need to make decisive progress towards closing the gender gap in the water. Consequently, the International Workshop will also profile discussion and the collection of relevant and sound content related to existing and emergent challenges to gender equality in water. This will be achieved by drawing on a range of examples, in particular from low- and middle-income country contexts, but also by taking into account that some of these challenges also affect women in high-income countries.

Programme at glance

Abstract submission

Workshop fees

Workshop venue

How to reach Pisa and Accomodation

Abstract submission

- Abstract submission is now closed - 

Submit an abstract by June 16th, 2024 

Click here to access to the Abstract Submission Form.

Abstracts should be written in English and should have a maximum lenght of 500 words.

Accepted contributions will be notified by mid July 2024 and a registration form will be sent to leading contributrors.

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Workshop fees

Participation is free of charge.

Participants are responsible for their own travel and accomodation expenses.

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Workshop Venue:

Centro congressi Le Benedettine Piazza S. Paolo a Ripa D'Arno, 16, 56125 Pisa (Italy)

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Other relevant information

• Participants will be responsible for their own travel arrangements. 
• Lunches and coffee breaks will be offered by the Organizers.
• The working language of the workshop will be English.

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Guidelines for presenters

Oral presentations will be allocated 10 minutes each. 

For video poster presentations, kindly follow to the provided guidelines. Presenters will be allocated 5 minutes each to synthesise the main content of the poster.

  The event will be centered around five scientific sessions linked to  Multi-stakeholtheder Call for Action:

1. Gender equal funding - Including gender-equality principles in funding, which promote women's leadership, protect their water rights and no longer rely on unpaid work of women and girls for securing and managing water; 
2. Policy instruments for inclusion and equality in water - Narrowing the persisting gap between policy and practice in the water domain to ensure gender-equality policies and necessary mechanisms are in place for implementation;  
3. Women's leadership, participation and decision-making in water  - Fostering women’s leadership for meaningful participation through education and capacity development; 
4. Inclusive access, use and management of water - Countering social norms and stereotypes that may have negative effects on water access, use and inclusive decision-making; 
5. Gender equality and the data gap - Implementing the collection, analysis and use of sex-disaggregated water data to inform water policies through the application of appropriate gender-responsive indicators. 

In addition to the thematic sessions, the ongoing Multi-Stakeholder Coalition projects will be presented in breakout sessions under different areas of interest (e.g., watershed focus for gender integration; local organizations and territories; promotion and dissemination; the role of science and academia and capacity development at the operational level) for discussing the practical aspects of the concepts presented during the scientific sessions.