Exploring the Waste Management and Gender Nexus

Gender influences the views, handling, and management of waste. However, there is an overall lack of consideration of waste management and gender nexus, resulting in inadequate policy-making and unsustainable waste management strategies while increasing gender equality gaps. This chapter explores the interactions between waste management and gender, addressing the critical aspects of an integrated and sustainable waste management system and the relevance of the gender mainstream framework. The integrated sustainable waste management approach includes the stakeholders, waste system elements, and the enabling aspects dimensions. On the other hand, waste and gender relations are characterised by the gender definition of waste, division of responsibilities, community-based initiatives, and policy and practice aspects. In this work, those elements are described, discussed, and outlined as a conceptual framework for gender equality consideration in decision-making processes for waste management.