Water, Gender and Changing Policies, Politics and Economies

After 2023 at the UN Water Conference, there was acknowledgement that the water-climate-conflict nexus required an overhaul of how water is governed, managed and used. This has proved to be easier said than done. Climate, economic and political challenges have continued to compromise water-food-nature-growth ecosystems and human needs for water. The last two years have witnessed deeper poverty, weaker economies, conflicts, climate extremes and an eroding of human rights and good governance. Put together, we now stand at a crossroads. Progress on water security and gender equality continues to be sporadic, and it seems inevitable that women will continue to walk longer, further and bear greater burdens for accessing water for domestic and productive use. The 2026 theme for World Water Day “when water flows – equality grows” was an intentional attention to issues of equality and inclusion. Building on this, we focus on three key objectives in this Research Topic.Firstly, our goal is to document impact of unprecedented climate, economic and political shifts on marginalized women in urban and rural settings, and how gender-water challenges are reshaping gendered relationships in households and communities. In current scenarios, we note a re-emergence of the focus on addressing water crises through technical innovations and private sector engagement, and these shifts mostly do not focus on gender inequality and social inclusion. Our second goal is to understand how these shifts impact deeply embodied everyday challenges of water insecurity, as well as to document unusual, against the grain, gender gains/ interventions in relation to water for food, environment, energy and growth through grassroots activism, transdisciplinary, transformative innovations. Our third goal is to open a dialogue around the politics of data-driven governance that has fueled an indicator industry - especially in the Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) era – that unintentionally reproduces gender stereotypes and celebrates weak achievements without addressing deeper structural issues. By bringing together researchers, practitioners, policy, decision-making actors and grassroots actors working on water justice, this Research Topic enables collating evidence of challenges and unusual gains. The collection is also about enabling coordination, collaboration and connecting around issues of water and gender justice, the need for which is far more critical - as climates, economies and politics shift in unprecedented ways. We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes: • climate-water crises and the reshaping of gender roles, resources and burdens • marginalized smallholders and the water for food systems crisis • the human/ embodied costs of climate-water crises • water insecurity and rising inequalities • the political economies of climate-water-gender crises• correcting biases in digital climate innovations • rethinking water infrastructure that works for women • emergence of solidarity economy innovations in water • re-imagining and re-making inclusive water security• understanding how gender-related indicators are framed in emerging water-climate-data narratives, innovations and investments• documenting grassroots participatory and collaborative initiatives that center women’s and other marginalized voices. Topic editors: DEEPA JOSHI, Mary Galvin, Fouzia Mannan Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86733/water-gender-and-changing-policies-politics-and-economies