The central message of 2026 is clear: when women participate in water-related decisions on equal terms, services become more inclusive, effective and sustainable. Where water is recognized as a guaranteed right and governed with a gender perspective, educational, professional and political opportunities emerge that help to reduce long-standing inequalities affecting women and girls.
Years ago, it was evident that in many regions of the world women were the ones responsible for carrying water from the source or managing household water needs. Yet today we still see that, far too often, women remain excluded from decision-making, leadership, financing and representation in water governance systems.
The Canary Islands are not far removed from this reality. Ensuring access to water has been a key condition for economic development, the expansion of rights and progress toward greater equality across the different islands and municipalities. However, regarding gender equality, although progress has been made, there is still a path ahead before the role of women in the water sector becomes fully visible, decisive and widely recognized.
In recent decades, female talent has strongly emerged in the Canary Islands’ water sector, particularly in highly specialized fields such as desalination, wastewater treatment and agricultural water reuse. There is also a growing presence of female researchers and professionals in universities, public administrations and water service or consulting companies, where women are increasingly leading environmental studies, water footprint assessments, carbon emission analyses and European projects addressing water stress and climate change adaptation.
Through the DESAL+ LIVING LAB platform, over nine years of activity, research and innovation projects have been promoted in which women play a leading role, driving and leading change for Canary Islands society on equal terms. Specific events have also been organized on the role of women in the water sector in the Canary Islands to highlight the work of female scientists, technicians and sector managers.
Projects such as IDIWATER, co-financed at 85% by ERDF funds under the Interreg MAC 2021–2027 Programme, are consolidating the Canary Islands as a living laboratory for the search for water solutions with a strong social and territorial dimension and a clear focus on equality. The project promotes public-private cooperation to improve access to quality water and foster the creation of highly specialized companies. In line with the spirit of World Water Day, IDIWATER also creates an environment in which new professional profiles can lead the transformation of the regional water sector.
Within IDIWATER, the number of women and men is equal, and initiatives are being promoted such as an analysis of women’s participation in R&D&I in the water sector in the Canary Islands through ACIISI, as well as efforts to better understand the experiences and contributions of the women participating through the project partner organizations.
In this context, the historical trajectory of the Canary Islands shows that, when water is scarce, inequalities deepen; when it is guaranteed as a common good, spaces for equity open up. Today, the combination of modern and efficient hydraulic infrastructure and integrated management allows more households, industries, tourism facilities and businesses to have reliable access to water—something unimaginable just seventy years ago.
If this transformation continues to be accompanied by gender-sensitive policies, equal participation in decision-making bodies and innovative initiatives such as IDIWATER, the water-equality nexus will remain a success story in the Canary Islands. On World Water Day 2026, the challenge—and the opportunity—is to continue expanding spaces for equality and to ensure that everyone in the islands’ water sector can fully play their role in managing water as a common good, strengthening our resilience for the future.
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