Where water flows, equality grows: this year’s  World Water Day reminds us just how deeply water and gender equality are connected.

Today, more than 1 billion women and girls still lack access to safely managed drinking water, limiting their health, safety, education, and opportunities. In two out of three households, women are still the ones responsible for collecting water, often spending hours every day on a task that should never cost anyone their future [1].

As we mark #WorldWaterDay 2026, we are reminded that achieving SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation for All,  is not only a matter of environmental urgency but also one of gender equity. This year’s theme spotlights the vital relationship between water, women, and gender equality, urging us to recognize how water scarcity disproportionately affects women and girls and to accelerate action for a fairer, safer, more sustainable world [2].

At Springer Nature, we continue to support the global research community working to advance understanding, solutions, and policy around water access, sanitation, and resilience. Recent publications connected to SDG 6 include:

• Emerging Pollutants: Protecting Water Quality for the Heath of People and the Environment – this Open Access book focuses on the importance of protecting water resources for human and ecosystem health. 

• Nexus Between Gender and Urban Water Supply: A Feminist Political Perspective - this chapter explores strategies to address inequality and women’s social, cultural, and political subordination in Zimbabwe’s urban water supply sector.
  

• From participation to empowerment: the case of women in community-based water management - this Open Access article highlights how women’s participation in water management institutions (WMOs) is seen as a vehicle for women empowerment and gender equity.

• Gender, Water Security and Climate Change: A Periurban Perspective – this chapter argues that the gendered impacts of urbanisation and climate change on water insecurity manifest in three ways.

These works underscore a shared message: we cannot achieve sustainable development without securing safe water for every community, and we cannot secure safe water without empowering women as leaders, decision‑makers, and agents of change.

💧 This World Water Day 2026, it’s time to centre women and girls in water solutions. Because where water flows, equality grows.

Further Resources to explore:

1. World Water Day 2026 – Activation Kit: https://www.unwater.org/sites/default/files/2026-01/WWD2026_ActivationKit_English.pdf
2. World Water Day 2026 webpage: https://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day