Water diplomacy: A man’s world? Insights from the Nile, Rhine and Chu-Talas basins

Abstract

Based on Feminist Institutionalism, this paper analyses the reasons for gender disbalance in water diplomacy. To this end, it looks at three intergovernmental decision-making forums on shared waters, namely the Nile Technical Advisory Committee, the Chu-Talas Water Commission, and the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine. The perceived key obstacles for women’s access to decision-making positions were disciplinary gender divides that go along with a largely technical approach to water management, the gender division of labour, cultural norms, and perceptions of good leadership. While their relevance differed in the different socio-economic, political and cultural contexts, the overall results show that male dominance in water diplomacy is not only a matter of numerical representation, but enshrined in professional norms and practices.