Investing in women: A game-changer in climate-resilient irrigation

Irrigation is essential to ensuring a stable food supply, especially as climate change increasingly disrupts planting and harvest cycles. The sector is also an important source of job creation. So how can we maximize its impact? The answer lies partly in investing in women. 

Why Women Matter in Irrigation

Women comprise 38 percent of the global agricultural workforce, and in 22 countries they account for over half of all agricultural workers. This means they play a crucial role in ensuring food and nutrition security. Studies from Asia and Africa suggest that women grow more than half of the world’s food, although the exact figures are debated. 

Women are also key players in how water is used and managed in agricultural fields. While the link between gender and natural resource conservation is nuanced, evidence from Asia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa shows that women take more action to protect the environment than men. In China, for example, female rice farmers trained in low-carbon technologies and management practices are more likely to adopt these methods than male farmers.

When women are involved in irrigation, it benefits entire communities. Women are more likely than men to use irrigation to grow nutrient-dense crops and tend to spend a greater proportion of their income on their family’s education and health. This not only improves human capital development but also helps lift families out of poverty. 

Research also shows that when women participate in formal high level water institutions, these institutions perform better. The same applies to community-level organizations. Countries like Argentina, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Ethiopia have seen positive results when women participate in water user associations (WUAs). Their involvement leads to better enforcement of rules, more effective fee collection, increased transparency, improved conflict management, and more efficient water use. 

Closing the Gender Gap in Irrigation

Despite the benefits, women in irrigated agriculture face significant barriers. Traditionally considered to be a male domain, the sector does not offer women’s equal access to irrigation technologies, extension services, finance, and other resources critical for agricultural productivity. Closing the gender gap in farm productivity and the wage gap in agrifood-system employment would reduce global food insecurity by two percentage points, reducing the number of food-insecure people by 45 million.

Globally, only 20 percent of landholders are women, and in some regions like North Africa and West Asia, it’s less than five percent. Ownership or control over land is essential for women to access resources and participate in decision-making about irrigation, but many face legal and social barriers. 

Women also have less say in decision making about irrigation infrastructures and service provision than men, and they are underrepresented as employees and managers in high level public irrigation institutions, and as members and decision-makers in community level WUAs. In Ecuador, observations during WUA meetings found that male members spoke on average 28 minutes compared to female members who only spoke 3.5 minutes. 

How Can We Promote Gender Equality in Irrigation?

The recently launched World Bank Gender Strategy 2024-2030 stresses elevating human capital, expanding economic opportunities for women, and engaging women as leaders as pivotal elements for gender equality and development.  

These same elements apply to irrigation. Based on a World Bank review of the gender and irrigation literature and experiences from the World Bank’s work with governments across the world, addressing gender inequalities in irrigation requires action in five key areas: 

1. Reforming irrigation policies and laws to support gender equality.
2. Ensuring that irrigation infrastructure and services serve the needs of both women and men.
3. Increasing women’s employment and leadership in formal irrigation institutions.
4. Supporting women’s participation and voice in water user organizations.
5. Boosting women’s participation and economic benefit from irrigated agricultural production.

Already, some countries are making substantial efforts to promote gender equality in irrigation:

• In Georgia, the Irrigation and Land Market Development project helped women register their land. The holistic digitalization of procedures, outreach campaigns and hiring female surveyors were key to project success. Building on this, the Resilient Agriculture, Irrigation, and Land project is encouraging women to enter irrigation service contracts, as women, despite being 40 percent of landowners, rarely hold these contracts. 
• In India, the West Bengal Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation project promotes women’s decision-making roles in water user associations (through extending membership to wives of male members, influential roles in WUA committees, and opportunities for agripreneurs and livelihood activities), and the West Bengal Major Irrigation and Flood Management project aims to support women’s employment in the Irrigation and Waterways Department (through outreach to female students in STEM education across local universities, internship programs, and by introducing anti-sexual harassment policies). 
• In Somalia, the Barwaaqo project supports equal access to agricultural inputs and services for female farmers through innovative approaches such as engaging female trainers and providing training on cropping and livestock management to family units, rather than individuals, to boost women’s participation while raising awareness within families about women’s important contributions. These activities build on the strides made under the Biyoole project, where women attended farmer fields schools, were trained as animal health technicians, provided livestock extension services and engaged in rangeland regeneration activities. In Puntland, one of the target states in the project, women comprised over 60 percent of farmers who adopted small-scale drip irrigation farming. 

To advance gender equality in irrigation, we need supportive laws, higher representation of women in decision-making, equal access to jobs and resources, and investments in female farmers and entrepreneurs. Women are essential to food production and water management, and their participation is key to tackling poverty, improving health, and building climate resilience. Achieving the SDGs will be impossible if half of the population is left out. The work to create a more inclusive and sustainable irrigation sector must start now!

For more insights on how to promote gender equality in climate-resilient irrigation, stay tuned for the upcoming World Bank report “Nourish and Flourish: How to Improve Agricultural Water Management to Feed 10 Billion People on a Livable Planet.”