Secured WEF and Gender: Better Data for Equality and Resilience

Under increasing climate uncertainties and extremes, threats to water, energy, and food (WEF) security affect vulnerable social groups in disproportionate ways. In the Pacific region, women and girls continue to be disadvantaged in access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services; in their decision-making power over natural resources management, and in developing their full potential for economic autonomy. Gender disparities are usually based on structural inequalities rooted in cultural norms, social stratification, and relations of power. Sector analyses often do not adequately reflect how the WEF security nexus and gender interrelate. One main factor conditioning ill-informed sector analyses is the lack of sex-disaggregated data. The chapter briefly discusses availability of gender disaggregated WEF-related data in the Pacific region with a focus on the Pacific Small Island Developing States. It then proposes an integrative gender methodology for the analysis of natural resources management and agricultural development programmes for policy and project development. Useful methodological tools for disaggregating data by gender are further discussed.