Four Gender Basin Profiles

The Four Gender Basin Profiles are a set of maps that display gender-disaggregated information on a range of topics related to water management and agriculture in four river basins: the Ganges, Nile, Volta and Mekong.

Gender inequity is prevalent in water management and agriculture, but very little accurate data exists on gendered aspects of these sectors. Researchers, policy makers and development investors need access to better information on gender dynamics to be able to improve gender equity in decision making on water management.

Scientists from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have produced the maps by collecting open-source, district-level, gender-disaggregated data from 13 countries (Nepal, India, and Bangladesh in the Ganges; Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar in the Mekong; Ethiopia, Egypt, and Uganda in the Nile; Ghana and Burkina Faso in the Volta) on topics such as population distribution, malnutrition and sanitation. Then, they mapped the information geo-spatially in order to show what information that was currently available where, and strikingly, to show what was still missing.

The maps aim to provide an evidence base for analysis of gender disparities and new development opportunities, and they may be useful to researchers, policy makers, non-government organizations and civil society groups making decisions on or investments in agricultural water management. Currently, this activity is being expanded in the Volta and Nile basins to explore in more detail how the maps can be used to support water management institutions.

Go to the Four Gender Basin Profiles website