World Water Day 2026: Water and Gender

This online event, hosted by the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience (IHRR) and the Department of Geography at Durham University, celebrates World Water Day with talks by three leading female researchers and practitioners in water resource management, governance, and sustainability:

Dr Dorice Agol - Visiting Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science - “Water has no gender, but its benefits and challenges do”
 

Dr Jenniver Sehring - Associate Professor of Water Governance and Diplomacy at IHE Delft and Head of the Water Governance Department - “(How) Does gender influence transboundary water cooperation?"

Dr Nandita Basu - Canada Research Chair in Global Water Sustainability and Ecohydrology, University of Waterloo - "From Mentee to Mentor: Women Shaping the Science of Water"

The event will be chaired by Co-director of IHRR and Associate Professor in Physical Geography Dr Caroline Clason, a glaciologist working in water security and environmental quality.
 

About World Water Day:

World Water Day, observed each year in March, is a United Nations international observance day that highlights the vital importance of freshwater and advocates for sustainable water management. First established in 1993 after the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, it has become a global platform for awareness, education and action on water issues. While World Water Day celebrates the essential role water plays in our lives and raises awareness of the 2.1 billion people who still lack access to safe water, each year also has a specific theme to spotlight a particular aspect of the water and sanitation crisis.

The focus of World Water Day 2026 is Water and Gender, emphasising the link between water, sanitation and gender equality. This theme explores how access to safe water and sanitation is not only a basic human right but also a critical enabler of gender equality and empowerment. Water scarcity and inadequate sanitation affect everyone, but women and girls are disproportionately impacted due to entrenched gender roles and inequalities. In many communities, they are primarily responsible for collecting water - a physically demanding task that can consume hours each day and keep girls out of school or women from economic opportunities. Lack of safe, private sanitation facilities also exposes women and girls to greater risk of harassment and affects their health and dignity. World Water Day 2026 calls for a transformative, rights-based approach to solving the water crisis that ensures the voices of women and girls are heard, their leadership is recognised, and their specific needs are considered in designing and delivering water and sanitation services. Equal representation in water governance and decision-making is essential not just for championing equity, but for creating more effective, sustainable water systems.

By centring gender equality within the global water agenda, World Water Day 2026 will reinforce that achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 - universal access to clean water and sanitation by 2030 - is closely linked with progress on Sustainable Development Goal 5, which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
 

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 13:00 - 16:00 (UTC+00:00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London