As water risks intensify, businesses are being pushed to rethink not only how they manage water, but who is most affected when it becomes scarce.
In this article, Hester le Roux, GEDSI Advisor to the Fair Water Footprints initiative at IIED, explores a critical blind spot in corporate water stewardship: the tendency to overlook how water insecurity is experienced unevenly, particularly by women and other marginalised groups. She argues that embedding gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) is not just a matter of equity, but essential to reducing risk, strengthening community trust and delivering more effective, resilient outcomes.