WOMEN in WATER UTILITIES BREAKING BARRIERS Executive Summary This publication is the executive summary from the 2019 World Bank report “Women in Water Utilities: Breaking Barriers.” The full-length report is available at https://openknowledge.worldbank.org. Please use the full-length report for citation, reproduction, and adaptation purposes. © 2019 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. Please cite the work as follows: World Bank. 2019. “Women in Water Utilities: Breaking Barriers.” World Bank, Washington, DC. Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org Cover and report design: Takayo Fredericks. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. 2. Current needs and trends in the water and Utilities can play an important role in reducing sanitation sector create unprecedented change and eliminating barriers faced by women. This for water and sanitation service providers. With 2.1 study presents a first-of-its-kind analysis that aims billion people still lacking safely managed drinking to heighten understanding of key barriers and water and 4.5 billion lacking safely managed sanitation, the bottlenecks that women face in their career in the water water and sanitation crisis is one of the global community’s sector and identify interventions that water companies most pressing challenges. Service providers are under can put in place to increase gender diversity in the water increased pressure to provide services to communities workforce. The report draws on survey data collected from traditionally excluded and to reach remote or low-income 64 water and sanitation utilities in 28 economies; focus areas. Emerging global trends, such as rapid urbanization group discussions with water utility staff in Belarus, Egypt, and climate change, put further pressure on the scarce and Malawi; and in-depth key informant interviews with natural resource of water. At the same time, as important representatives of utilities, academia, and international service providers in urban areas, water and sanitation organizations. The study also draws on secondary survey utilities have a key role to play in achieving United data from the International Benchmarking Network for Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 6, to “ensure Water and Sanitation Utilities (IBNET) and the Mining and availability and sustainable management of water and Utilities Statistics Database (MINSTAT); gender diversity sanitation for all.” To meet these challenges, water utilities assessments from water utilities in Albania, Kosovo, need to increase their productivity and become more and Romania conducted by the Economic Dividends for efficient. This will require tapping into new approaches, Gender Equality (EDGE) Certification Foundation and the technologies, and solutions, as well as renewing the water World Bank; insights from a qualitative study on female workforce to meet emerging needs and move away from representation in a utility in Bangladesh, conducted as business as usual. By hiring, managing, and training a more part of a World Bank water and sanitation project; and an diverse mix of employees, new and fresh perspectives can extensive review of literature on female employment in help shape the water utilities of the future. utilities and infrastructure-related sectors. WOMEN IN WATER UTILITIES: BREAKING BARRIERS  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  1 BACKGROUND 3. Women are an untapped pool of talent for the water sector. Data collected for this study from 64 water and sanitation service providers in 28 economies around the world show that the percentage of female workers is considerably lower than that of men: on average, utilities in the sample reported that only 18 percent of their workers are women—that’s fewer than one in five (figure ES.1). Wide heterogeneity was found among the utilities surveyed. For example, although, on average, 23 percent of engineers and managers in a utility are female, 32 percent of the sampled utilities had no female engineers and 12 percent had no female managers. Other sources and literature corroborate these findings and show that the water sector continues to employ a far higher number of men than women, especially in technical fields (IWA 2016). A World Bank report on the links between water and gender found that “the low number of women in water-related technical roles reflects their overall exclusion from such jobs” and is a representation of broader labor 5. market trends (Das 2017). Modern utilities are evolving and becoming more customer oriented. Utilities are creating 4. new departments to respond to emerging needs, Despite low percentages of female mainly in client-facing areas such as customer representation, some evidence suggests that service divisions. Many positions seen today did not exist the proportion of female water professionals has 20 years ago, so the utilities of today and tomorrow need grown in the past few years. Data on participation staff with more diverse skill sets. Because of technology in water utilities from 2011 and 2016 show a steady increase and digitization, certain jobs no longer require physical in the percentage of female employees (IBNET; figure ES.2). strength. Human resource management can play a central This may be a positive sign that the sector is changing role in preparing utilities to respond to these changes toward improved female representation. Nevertheless, the and promoting more diverse professional backgrounds pace of change is far too slow, and there is significant work among utility staff. By expanding the talent pool to truly to be done if gender parity is to be achieved. include women, a utility can choose from the most talented recruiting pool to address the sector’s evolving needs. FIGURE ES.1:  AVERAGE SHARE OF EMPLOYEES IN A WATER UTILITY THAT ARE WOMEN, 2018–19 70 Source: World Bank Utility Survey PERCENT WOMAN 2018–19. 60 Notes: Responses to the World Bank 50 Utility Survey (N = 64 water and 40 sanitation utilities in 28 economies). Bars show the utility average, and lines 30 show the range of all values. Engineers 20 RANGE OF are defined as licensed engineers 22.8% 23.3% ALL VALUES working in the utility. Managers are 10 17.7% employees in leadership positions and AVERAGE 0 decision-making roles and can comprise EMPLOYEES All Engineers Managers upper-, middle-, and lower-level management. 2  WOMEN IN WATER UTILITIES: BREAKING BARRIERS  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6. Increasing women’s participation in water “For women to be taken seriously they have utilities benefits women, the community, and the to work twice as hard, even if they are in the organization. Women benefit by gaining access same positions as men or applying to the to more and better jobs. Communities gain better representation in water-managing bodies, which same positions.” evidence suggests can lead to better community relations, —Female water utility employee, Kosovo among other benefits. In addition, a growing body of literature indicates numerous benefits of gender diversity 7. on organizational outcomes. For instance, evidence from the private sector suggests that gender-diverse companies Removing constraints to better jobs for women tend to outperform less diverse companies in terms of has wider economic and financial benefits at return on equity. Similarly, several studies link greater the national level. For governments, there is a diversity to an expanded mix of skills, which is found to compelling financial argument for promoting lead to greater innovation. Gender diversity also improves greater gender inclusion in the workforce: gender inequality customer satisfaction, because involving women in the and occupational sex segregation have proved costly. design, operation, and maintenance of water supply A World Bank study in 141 countries found that women, systems often results in improved user-friendly and female- in comparison to men, earn less and have lower human friendly design. Because women are key clients for water capital wealth, defined as the value of the future earnings and sanitation utilities, a more gender-diverse workforce of a country’s adult citizens. This inequality results in can help utilities better understand and respond to the US$160.2 trillion of losses in human capital wealth globally concerns and needs of female clients (GWA 2011; Hunt (Wodon and de la Brière 2018). Studies have shown that et al. 2018; IWA 2016) and lead to improved customer gross domestic product (GDP) increases with higher female satisfaction (Thompson et al. 2017). participation in the workforce. In Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, where the gender gap is presumed to be smaller, a 50 percent reduction in the male–female employment gap is estimated “If utilities gave motivational speeches to to lead to a GDP gain of 6 percent by 2030 (OECD 2015). universities, more female graduates may consider working in water utilities. For now, it seems to them like an unattractive “It could be helpful to ensure women are job provider.” aware that there is a potential to apply to —Female water quality officer, Ghana these positions—that positions are open, and that they are just as suited to apply.” —Female employee, Kosovo FIGURE ES.2:  TRENDS IN THE SHARE OF FEMALE WORKERS IN WATER UTILITIES 25 PERCENT WOMEN Source: IBNET. Notes: Data includes 362 annual 20 observations from utilities for the years 2011-2016. Utilities are 15 included only if they have available data for at least four of the six years in the period. The ratio of 10 women to total employees is calculated at the annual level for 5 each utility and then averaged across utilities in the same year. 0 YEAR 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 WOMEN IN WATER UTILITIES: BREAKING BARRIERS  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  3 FIGURE ES.3:  EMPLOYEE CAREER CYCLE IN THE UTILITY SECTOR ATTRACTION RECRUITMENT RETENTION ADVANCEMENT • Gender roles marked • School-to-work transition • Work–life balance • Training, mentorship, and through social norms • Targeting candidates/job • Family-friendly policies networking opportunities • Divisions of labor advertisements • Fair wages • Opportunities for leadership • STEM graduates • Hiring process • Work environment • Role models • Sexual harassment • Work facilities and amenities Source: Authors Note: STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 8. Women face barriers in accessing equal BARRIERS AND PROMISING employment in water utilities throughout their career trajectory. Employing a career APPROACHES 9. cycle framework, this report identifies four stages in a career cycle in which barriers manifest for Attraction: because of entrenched social women’s employment: attraction, recruitment, retention, norms and practices, water utilities and other and advancement (figure ES.3). At each stage, as will be infrastructure sectors often do not attract examined in closer detail in various chapters of this report, women. Findings from this study suggest that institutional and social practices can act as both enablers some key constraints to women’s participation in the of and barriers to the development of a woman’s career in water sector pertain to broad societal and national-level water utilities. challenges. These include gender norms and stereotypes, occupational segregation, and the low share of women graduating from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The chain of barriers begins “The utility is so male dominated, that within in education, with a low number of women graduating in weeks of joining the utility, most women STEM fields or from technical and vocational education want to leave! The utility needs to hire more and training (TVET) programs. Even with such training, women are likely to be deterred from entering water women so that a culture is created where utilities because gender norms label the work as too dirty, everyone feels comfortable.” dangerous, or heavy. Those women who do work in the —Female water quality officer, Ghana utilities tend to be employed in domains traditionally considered female, such as administration, customer relations, and finance and accounting, rather than the more “Most women do not like to work during odd expansive and generally higher-paying technical domains of engineering, supervision, operations and maintenance. The hours because of some family commitments dearth of female role models in the sector also contributes such as nursing babies.” to the low number of women attracted to the water —Female FGD participant, Malawi workforce. Initiatives that utilities can adopt to attract more women to the sector and overcome some gendered social norms include developing outreach programs for schools, sponsoring scholarships for women in STEM, or introducing technical and training programs targeting women, as some utilities described in this report have done. 4  WOMEN IN WATER UTILITIES: BREAKING BARRIERS  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 10. 11. Recruitment: women may face barriers in Retention: retention of women in water the recruitment process of water utilities. utilities is hampered by a lack of gender- Data from the World Bank Utility Survey sensitive policies and a discriminatory show that over a 12-month period, only workplace environment. World Bank Utility 20 percent of new hires were female. Some challenges Survey data reveal that female employees leave water women face in being recruited to water utilities lie in biased companies at a higher rate than men. Data for 2018 show hiring processes, including discriminatory language in that on average, women leave water utilities at a rate of job postings and implicit biases that affect members of 8 percent throughout the year, compared with 5 percent the hiring panel. Women are typically not targeted in job for men. Reasons cited by workers include insufficient placement programs or other school-to-work transitions. flexibility in arrangements that enable women to reconcile When they are considered for positions, evidence suggests work and caregiving roles, a feeling of isolation in a male- male applicants are favored over female candidates in dominated environment, a lack of basic amenities in the most STEM-related fields. In some economies, women workplace (such as separate toilets by gender, changing are even legally prohibited from being hired in the water rooms, and sanitary facilities), and sexual harassment. All sector. Small investments into overcoming biases in the of these factors create challenges in reducing turnover hiring process can expand the talent pool to the most and retaining a skilled female workforce. In response, some skilled and experienced candidates and thereby produce utilities have introduced more family-friendly policies economic benefits for a water utility. Gender-neutral job (for example, flexible work arrangements and childcare descriptions, removal of gender markers from application options), sexual harassment protection mechanisms (via documents, structured interviews, and gender-diverse anti-harassment policies and training, codes of conduct, panels can mitigate the barriers and hidden biases female and safe field-site accommodation for women operators), applicants face. Other promising approaches that utilities improved working facilities (separate toilets, lactation have adopted include job training and placement programs, rooms, and so on), and policies to remove salary inequities. internships and apprenticeships, and incentives and diversity targets. WOMEN IN WATER UTILITIES: BREAKING BARRIERS  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  5 13. “Salary is equal—but women are put in To be effective, interventions by water lower paid jobs. By law we are equal, but in utilities to increase female participation must be targeted and tailored to address the practice it is not so.” barriers that women face in each specific —Female engineer and manager, Serbia context. This will require concerted efforts, especially from leadership, to ensure women are provided with relevant opportunities to enter the sector and advance their careers. 12. Although the challenges women face are often universal Advancement: women in water utilities do (affecting service providers in countries across all income not always have the same opportunities levels), the policy mix and actions will need to be designed as men to advance in their career. with a strong understanding of the specific context. Legal, Unequal access to job training and institutional, political, social, and cultural considerations career advancement opportunities can affect women’s vary across countries, and these affect the roles that professional realization and career progression in the women are expected to play in the water sector. Therefore, sector. The literature suggests that oftentimes female these considerations are important to understand employees are not given equal opportunities to advance before determining which gender diversity measures in their careers. Data from the World Bank Utility Survey are appropriate. Because water-managing bodies are provide contrasting findings. According to the survey diverse—private or public, with differences in managerial data, proportionately speaking, women on average structure and autonomy, population served, utility size, or receive more opportunities for training and have similar age composition of the staff—they face unique challenges or slightly higher chances of getting promoted than men. that need to be considered when designing measures to For instance, in 2018, 4.4 percent of men, on average, were address gender diversity at the utility level. promoted in the previous 12 months compared with 5.4 14. percent of women. When it comes to perceptions, however, qualitative data collected for this study suggest that female Although the report focuses on employees do not always perceive that they are given equal service providers, creating an enabling opportunities to advance in their career. Most women environment at the national and sectoral who participated in discussions or interviews for the study level is important to facilitating changes on agreed that they must work especially hard to prove that the ground. Gender equality is increasingly embedded in they are as capable as men or are ready for more levels national constitutions, laws, sector strategies, or incentives of responsibility. Regardless of whether female managers for improving conditions for female professionals. However, are promoted at higher rates than male managers or not, many countries still have job restrictions and other it is irrefutable that in absolute terms, there are fewer discriminatory laws that limit women’s equal access to the women in managerial positions. Some practical examples water sector. Reforming these laws and adopting gender- that can help increase opportunities for the advancement friendly policies, such as offering maternity and paternity and career development of female employees in the leave that would allow women to compete with men on water sector include increased training options (adjusting an equal footing in the sector, are also important if gender training times and locations can make these opportunities inclusion is to flourish at the national level. more accessible to both men and women), mentorship 15. and networking programs, female leadership programs, and succession plans that are inclusive of women. Other There is no silver bullet solution to foster measures to consider are transparent promotion gender equality in the water workforce, but processes and criteria, performance systems that identify water utilities can adopt various promising talented women to be promoted, targets for gender approaches and interventions. Each utility composition in leadership positions, and incentives for varies, as do the experiences and needs of their employees. women to aspire to a career in the organization. In each context, depending on the salient issues, a different mix of approaches is relevant. A global mapping of initiatives from water and related sectors carried out for this study highlights a range of promising approaches that utilities can, and do, adopt to enhance gender diversity. Examples of approaches and policy reforms that water utilities can undertake to increase female participation at each step of the career cycle are laid out in appendix a. 6  WOMEN IN WATER UTILITIES: BREAKING BARRIERS  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY REFERENCES Das, Maitreyi Bordia. 2017. The Rising Tide: A New Look at Water and Gender. Washington, DC: World Bank. GWA (Gender and Water Alliance). 2011. Gender Scan Methodology. GWA. Harvard Business Review. 2013. “Women in the Workplace: A Research Roundup.” Harvard Business Review September: 86–89. Hunt, Vivien, Prince Sara, Dixon-Freyle Sundiatu, and Yee Lareina. 2018. “Delivering through Diversity.” McKinsey & Company. IWA (International Water Association). 2016. The Untapped Resource: Gender and Diversity in the Water Workforce. London: IWA. OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). 2015. “ Why a Push for Gender Equality Makes Sound Economic Sense” (accessed May 2019), http://www.oecd.org/forum/oecdyearbook/push-gender- equality-economic-sense.htm. Thompson, Kate, Kathleen O’Dell, Sameera Syed, Hannah Kemp, and Eva Vazquez. 2017. “Thirsty for Change: The Untapped Potential of Women in Urban Water Management.” Deloitte Review 20: 154–167. Wodon, Quentin T., and Bénédicte de la Brière. 2018. Unrealized Potential: The High Cost of Gender Inequality in Earnings. Washington, DC: World Bank. 8  WOMEN IN WATER UTILITIES: BREAKING BARRIERS  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY About the Water Global Practice Launched in 2014, the World Bank Group’s Water Global Practice brings together financing, knowledge, and implementation in one platform. By combining the Bank’s global knowledge with country investments, this model generates more firepower for transformational solutions to help countries grow sustainably. Please visit us at www.worldbank.org/water or follow us on Twitter at @WorldBankWater. About GWSP This publication received the support of the Global Water Security & Sanitation Partnership (GWSP). GWSP is a multidonor trust fund administered by the World Bank’s Water Global Practice and supported by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; The Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation; Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Rockefeller Foundation; the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs; the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Irish Aid; and the U.K. Department for International Development. Please visit us at www.worldbank.org/gwsp or follow us on Twitter #gwsp. Image Credits Front cover: Everything I Do / Shutterstock StudioSmart / Shutterstock Page 2: Tasokwa Kakota / World Bank Page 5: Lakshman Nadaraja / World Bank Page 7: Asian Development Bank/Flickr SKU W19054