Examining the Position of Women in Water Resources Management (A Comparative Approach to UN Sustainable Development Documents)

All over the world, women are more dependent on natural resources due to the responsibility of providing food, water and fuel, and for this reason, climate change and the subsequent reduction of water resources will especially affect women. From the point of view of global research and UN documents, women are one of the pillars of development and the key to the success of water policies. This importance has been highlighted in the United Nations sustainable development documents. In Iran's development plans over the past years, despite mentioning the importance of women's participation and the role of women in the development process, Ther is not a specific plan regarding the role of women in the sustainable development of water. Only in Article 17 of bylaw of the 4th Development Plan, the role of women in water resources management is mentioned, but a specific plan for women's participation and intervention in the water sector has never been formulated. This article was carried out with the method of qualitative content analysis of UN development documents and comparative analysis of these documents with the first to sixth development plans with the aim of determining what approach and attitude the programmers have regarding the empowerment of women in the field of water resources. The findings of the research show that in the country's development plans, attention to the position and role of women in the management of the country's water resources as both victims and policy makers of the country's water crisis has been neglected. Therefore, it is suggested that development programmers pay special attention to the empowerment and participation of women in water resources management to compensate the backwardness of this sector.