Equal Aqua - an inclusive water institutions platform

Women are an untapped pool of talent for the water sector. As documented in the World Bank’s Women in Water Utilities: Breaking Barriers report, only 18 per cent of water utility workers are female.

Moreover, they face many barriers to starting and advancing their careers in the water sector, including biases in the hiring process, inadequate family-friendly policies and fewer training opportunities.

Equal Aqua is a collaborative platform that aims to deepen the dialogue on gender diversity and inclusion in water sector jobs by connecting utilities, associations, representatives from the private sector, academia and local and international organizations and benchmarking gender inclusion in water organizations.

Objectives of Equal Aqua include:

• Provide the tools and approaches to boost female recruitment, retention, and promotion in water sector jobs.
• Ignite interest in gender diversity and inclusion among utility managers/water managing bodies.
• Expand the global database on gender diversity in water institutions.
• Support women working in the water sector by providing a space to advance their careers.

Equal Aqua was established by the World Bank’s Water Global Practice, with the support of Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP) and in collaboration with a range of external partners.

• Find out more about Equal Aqua here.