Gender Equality

Taking into account the fundamental role of women in environmental management and the importance of their equal participation in decision-making related to water resources management, the Amazon Basin Project – are increasing the countries’ capacities to plan, monitor and evaluate the incorporation of gender issues in SAP implementation, as well as to deepen regional cooperation in this area.

To this end, in August 2023, it initiated gender training sessions in all Amazonian countries for professionals working in the field of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and other national agents interested in learning about gender mainstreaming and being able to effectively incorporate it into plans, projects, programs and policies.

The main premise that is being conveyed is that to mainstream the gender perspective it is necessary to work in a participatory manner, involving various stakeholders, including, above all, the beneficiaries, with special attention to listening to the voice of women, allowing projects to be co-constructed and co-implemented in the territory with various stakeholders.

The central tool for training is the Gender Mainstreaming Scanner created by ECLAC and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in the year 2021. The Scanner can be applied tactically in the different phases of plans, programs and projects, such as diagnosis/analysis, formulation/design, implementation/execution and monitoring/evaluation. This tool provides an instant x-ray of the project in terms of its gender approach and makes it possible to identify whether it is gender-blind, gender-limited, gender-sensitive or even gender-transformative.

WOMEN AND WATER

Women’s participation in water management takes place, above all, in the context of the care economy. Whether in the field of human consumption, where they are responsible for personal and household hygiene, or in the production of food, medicines and fibers, they collect, store and manage water in an exemplary manner. They use it rationally and efficiently, recycling it and protecting it from contamination.
This management capacity of women has a positive impact on agriculture, the most water-dependent economic activity, which uses 70% of all the water consumed in the world for irrigation. According to UN Women, despite having less access to resources – land, seeds, training and new technologies – and less control over their time, being excluded from decision-making processes and suffering gender-based violence, their productive strength ensures that family farming and the cultivation of staple crops have more sustainable irrigation systems.

Women are responsible for half of the world’s food production and represent on average 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, according to 2018 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO.

According to projections by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), income from family and peasant production would increase by an average of 25%, agricultural production would grow by between 2.5% and 4% and hunger would be reduced by between 12% and 17% in Latin American countries, if women were guaranteed access to resources and knowledge and were consulted on infrastructure issues or water management policies.