Gender Assessment – A New Era InEgypt’s Water Management

Abstract

Gender issues are related to the different roles that men and women play in the process of program or project formulation, implementation and the different ways they are affected by decisions made regarding the fields they are involved in or influenced by. In recent years, a gender and empowerment approach has been attempted to transform existing gender relations through a more equal control of resources and a more equal sharing of water-related works and water management burdens. This study focuses on one of the activities and outcome of one of the bilateral national projects with Canada. The reason for selection is its positive impact on water resources management of Egypt and its adoption of a strategy and an action plan for gender equality. The assessment is based on the analysis conducted on two folds; the stakeholders gender analysis (land holders, labor, etc.) and institutional gender analysis (technical staff, decision makers, etc..). A survey was conducted on different socio-economic classes in two new reclaimed areas in the Eastern Delta of Egypt. The results showed that more than one eighth of landholders are women and more than two thirds of the hired labor is only men. Gender sensitivity is thus not a theoretical foreign concept; it is a production of the society’s interaction with the right methods, attitudes and approaches. It could be easily conveyed to the local people by the project members with gender concerns awareness. Experience proves that ensuring both women’s and men’s participation improves performance and guarantees sustainability.