Despite the efforts to promote and encourage women’s participation in the water sector, water institutions face challenges with retention of their female workforce. Women in STEM fields tend to leave jobs at higher rates than those occupying other positions, and a study from water sector showed that in the case of water utilities, female engineers were almost twice as likely to exit their jobs, compared to their male counterparts. This hurts not only female employees but also companies as high staff turnover is costly and inefficient. Under COVID, these dynamics have become even more pronounced as women drop out of the labor force to take care of children and family, or are more likely to be let go under economic contraction.

This means that diversity and inclusion efforts should focus not only on hiring and attracting female workforce, but also on providing an adequate work environment. Childcare support, flexible work arrangements, family-friendly HR policies and women-friendly facilities can all help address the barriers faced by employees and improve female retention.

This third webinar of the “Getting to Equal Aqua” webinar series, organized by the Equal Aqua Platform, has showcased findings from the recently published global database on gender diversity in water and sanitation utilities and has demonstrated what data from 96 utilities shows us about this “leakage” of female talent. The discussion has delved deeper into some concrete strategies used to retain female talent drawing from the experience of Lilongwe Water Board in Malawi. This session had participants from US, UK, India, France, Nigeria, Ghana, Canada, Indonesia, Germany, Romania, Serbia, Austria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Pakistan, among others. 

To access past webinars and recordings of previous events, please visit the Learning & Events section on our Equal Aqua Website.