Women and girls are disproportionately affected by unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services. Although SDG target 6.2 calls for "paying special attention to the needs of women and girls...", the indicators used for national and global monitoring of progress on WASH do not adequately address gender inequalities.
Review of measures and indicators for gender in WASH
In late 2020, the WHO/UNICEF JMP launched a review of opportunities for enhanced monitoring of gender in relation to SDG WASH targets which was led by Emory University. Following an extensive literature review, the team developed a Conceptual Framework to inform national and global monitoring of gender equality in WASH. The conceptual framework was further refined based on feedback from expert reviewers and includes four interrelated domains: Ability to Meet Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Needs; Ability to Exercise Agency; Access to Resources; and the Multi-Level Enabling Environment. These four domains provided the basis for a subsequent in-depth review of measures and indicators for Gender in WASH and preparation of an Inventory of tools and measures with items sorted by dimension and coded by sub-theme.
In early 2021, the JMP and Emory University convened a series of expert group meetings to discuss the review findings and to identify: critical gaps in existing data sources and measurement; opportunities to leverage existing data to increase the gender focus of ongoing monitoring efforts; and opportunities and approaches to collect new data to fill gaps and needs specific to gender. The Final Report provides an easily digestible summary of key findings from the review including: conceptual framework, identification of data sources and tools, traffic light assessment of measures and indicators related to 15 dimensions across the four domains, and summary of opportunities to leverage existing data and to strengthen large and small scale monitoring. It also includes extensive appendices with updated briefs focusing on monitoring specific items identified in each dimension.
Acknowledgements
The review of measures and indicators for gender in WASH was conducted by Bethany A. Caruso, Allison Salinger, Madeleine Patrick, Amelia Conrad, Sheela Sinharoy and Awa Youm from Emory University.
We would also like to thank the following experts who donated their time, effort, energy, and insights in reviewing the dimension briefs: Zach Burt (USAID), Sue Cavill (Independent Consultant), Jenala Chipungu (CIDRZ), Lucie Chocolata (FAO), Benoit Conti (UNICEF), Liza Debevec (GWP), Betsy Engbretson (WHO), Anu Paudyal Gautam (UNICEF), Shirin Heidari (WHO), Joanna Lowell (ICF), Eleanor Lucas (WaterAid), Jess MacArthur (University of Technology Sydney),Thérèse Mahon (WaterAid), Albert Motivans (Equal Measures 2030), Priya Nath (WaterAid), Neville Okwaro (Ministry of Health, Kenya),Lauren Pandolfelli (UNICEF), Virginia Roaf (Sanitation and Water for All), Ben Robinson (WaterAid), Turgay Unalan (UNICEF), Sara Valero (UN Women), Inga Winkler (Central European University), Awa Youm (Emory University), and Sera Young (Northwestern University).