Exploring gender dimensions of water insecurity and governance in the Lower Mekong Region

The document examines the gendered dimensions of water insecurity in the Lower Mekong Region, noting that women bear heavier caring burdens and are largely excluded from water governance, which remains a masculine technical domain. It highlights a disconnect between national gender policies and water policies, and argues that current gender mainstreaming is often tokenistic. The brief recommends involving women leaders in decision-making, integrating gender into water governance curricula, and creating partnerships between water and gender-mandated institutions.

• Water insecurity disproportionately increases the burden of care for women, who are often held accountable for securing water and managing family well-being during scarcity or following displacement from hydropower projects.
• Water governance is characterized as a masculine and technical field where men dominate leadership positions and use stereotypes of women as 'anti-technical' or 'unscientific' to exclude them from power.
• Gender equality issues are frequently ignored in transboundary water governance, where technical and economic concerns take precedence over the gender-specific insecurities of poor and ethnic peoples.
• Current efforts to include women in water governance are often tokenistic, focusing on the number of participants rather than meaningful engagement, and can inadvertently increase women's workloads if domestic burdens are not addressed.
• There is a systemic disconnect in the Lower Mekong Region between national gender policies and water policies; while gender policies exist, they rarely link to water management and instead focus on social welfare and employment.

APA

Nguyen, H., Biskupska, N., & Mortensen, S. (2019). Exploring gender dimensions of water insecurity and governance in the Lower Mekong Region. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/gender-and-water-insecurity-sei-discussion-briefing.pdf

Chicago

Nguyen, Ha, Natalia Biskupska, and Sofie Mortensen. Exploring gender dimensions of water insecurity and governance in the Lower Mekong Region. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2019. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/gender-and-water-insecurity-sei-discussion-briefing.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nguyen |first1=Ha |last2=Biskupska |first2=Natalia |last3=Mortensen |first3=Sofie |title=Exploring gender dimensions of water insecurity and governance in the Lower Mekong Region |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=January 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/gender-and-water-insecurity-sei-discussion-briefing.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nguyen2019exploring, author = {Nguyen, Ha and Biskupska, Natalia and Mortensen, Sofie}, title = {{Exploring gender dimensions of water insecurity and governance in the Lower Mekong Region}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/gender-and-water-insecurity-sei-discussion-briefing.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }