Under the motto “where water flows, equality flows” the World Water Day 2026, was centered on Water and Gender. The United Nations recognizes that the global water crisis affects everyone, but not equally. Both the Netherlands and Spain are known for their water expertise. Spain operates under structural water stress yet it has developed one of the most efficient irrigation. In contrast, the Netherlands under the threat of flooding has managed to keep Dutch feet dry. However water expertise and management are more often associated with men than with women. Water crisis has a human dimension that enables or limits water decisions. Today’s water challenges require the diversity of knowledge and perspectives to gain a deeper understanding and uncover hidden interdependencies to foster more enduring and sustainable solutions. Incorporating women improves decision-making, enhances adaptability and strengthens the resilience of entire systems.
Beeld: © United Nations. World Water day Resources.
Two countries. Two realities. One water.
World Water Day 2026 invites us to reflect on one of the most critical resources for our future. Agriculture relies primarily on two essential resources: water availability and soil health. Paradoxically these dependencies lead to overextraction of water and less land for water infiltration. In doing so, it threatens its own future productivity and undermines long-term food security. But perhaps the real question is not whether we have enough water but if we are managing it well. Water challenges are less related to unavailability and more related to governance, efficiency and institutional design including gender and resilience.
This becomes particularly evident when comparing two European realities: Spain and the Netherlands. Spain faces structural water stress. Agriculture uses 70% of fresh water. Spain is known as the orchard of Europe. Through sophisticated irrigation systems they sustain a leading place in food production. As highlighted by the Ministry of Agriculture, irrigation is not just a technical system: it is a driver of rural development and food security. But it entails the risk of increasing trade-offs between productivity, sustainability and long-term social and economic wellbeing.
By contrast, the Netherlands, faced with the constant threat of flooding, has built its identity around water management. It has transformed vulnerability into expertise, becoming a global reference in water governance, infrastructure, and innovation. Worth noting that even in such advanced systems, beyond technology and infrastructure, there is a deeper layer we often overlook: the human and cultural dimension of water management.
Both the Netherlands and Spain have developed a niche of water expertise, but empirical observations suggest that in both countries expertise and authority in water are more often associated with men than with women. Numerical dominance of men can be appreciated in water professions including irrigation administrations and drinking water and sanitation authorities.
The missing layer: gender perspective
Recent analysis by Elena Lopez Gunn, from Real Instituto Elcano introduces a critical, often underexplored dimension: the role of gender in shaping water governance and, more broadly, the cultural conditions under which scientific and technical systems operate. The analysis suggests that scientific progress and social structures are co-evolving processes, and that excluding gender perspectives may limit the effectiveness of otherwise robust technical solutions.
Observations across agricultural and rural contexts support this claim. Women frequently play a central role in managing water, particularly in conditions of water stress. They contribute to allocation decisions, risk adaptation and the maintenance of local systems. Yet, they remain underrepresented in formal governance structures, engineering domains and policy design processes (Zwarteveen, 2026).
Integrating gender perspectives into (high level) water governance can enhance decision-making processes, improve adaptation to climate conditions and strengthen system resilience. This is particularly relevant under increasing climate uncertainty, where adaptive capacity becomes a defining factor.
Beeld: © LAN Spain
Opening. SWA's 2025 Sector Ministers Meeting. October 22. From left to right: Mr. Patrick Moriarty, Chair–SWA Steering Committee; Ms. Sara Aagesen, Minister for Ecological Transition, Spain; Ms. Laura Chinchilla Former President of the Republic of Costa Rica and Dr. Michelle Bachelet Former President of Chile. Photo by LAN Spain
Efficiency is not only a matter of technology
With food security at the forefront of international politics, the lack of representation of women in water management bodies constitutes a structural inefficiency in system design. At the global level, the World Bank has recently articulated a framework called Nourish and Flourish, linking water efficiency to broader development outcomes. Its projections indicate that improved water management could contribute to feeding a global population of 10 billion while generating substantial employment. This approach reframes water from a limiting factor to a productive asset, granting optimization is achieved across other sectors, agriculture being the most relevant.
Within the European context, this perspective aligns with emerging policy directions promoted by the European Commission, particularly in relation to water circularity. The increasing emphasis on reuse, resource recovery and system integration reflects a shift from linear consumption models towards regenerative frameworks. Wastewater treatment, for instance, is being repositioned as a source of value within agricultural and industrial cycles.
However, these technological and policy advances share a common limitation: they operate within existing governance paradigms that may not fully incorporate the social dimensions of resource management. Water systems are socio-technical systems. Their performance depends not only on infrastructure and policy instruments but also on behaviors, incentives and cultural norms. In this context, gender is not an external variable but an intrinsic component of system functionality.
Inclusion as a conclusion
The implication is clear: addressing water challenges requires a shift from resource-centric to system-centric thinking. Water scarcity, in this sense, should be understood less as a physical constraint and more as a manifestation of governance limitations. Gender-sensitive approaches are not peripheral to this transition; they are central to it and a fundamental part of the food system we as LAN office Spain contribute too.
Incorporating women into water governance is not about inclusion for its own sake. It is about improving decision-making, enhancing adaptability, and strengthening entire systems. Because managing water effectively requires more than infrastructure: it requires understanding behaviors, managing trade-offs and long-term thinking. These are deeply human capabilities.
On this World Water Day, perhaps the most important reflection is: if we truly want to move from scarcity to resilience, from conflict to sustainability and achieve food security, we must stop seeing water as just a resource and start seeing it as a system shaped by ALL people.
References
Zwarteveen, M. (2026, March 25) IHE Delft News, ‘Water and Gender: Why it matters?’ https://www.un-ihe.org/news/water-and-gender-why-it-matters