In Iran, women may be disproportionately impacted by the water crisis, blamed for it, and also pray for rain: 'It has to really move from the patriarchy side of water… to the women's side'

The story behind Iran's unfolding water crisis isn't as "simple" as climate change alone since the severe scarcity there has reportedly long been driven by man-made factors, such as resource mismanagement, unsustainable farming practices, and groundwater depletion. But a years-long drought is also worsening a life-threatening situation that has brought President Masoud Pezeshkian to consider evacuating the capital. 

The government previously engaged in building dams and creating water-transfer schemes instead of working to recharge the country's established aquifers, according to Nik Kowsar, an Iranian-Canadian journalist and water issues analyst. But investment in this infrastructure and problematic crops only led to the overburdening of the country's natural water reserves. 

“Because of Iran's agricultural policies — that wanted to be self-sufficient — they weren't paying attention to water-intense crops,” Kowsar told Climate, Gendered by phone. “That means Iran has lost a big amount of its groundwater resources and that is dangerous.”

Now, not only could the extended water crisis and its ramifications pose unequal impacts along gender lines — such as unequal water collection burdens and challenges to menstrual care — but women and girls have, in some cases, also been blamed for it. 

"Some [members of parliament] have also blamed the drought on the Iranian government for failing to enforce the restrictive hijab laws passed by parliament," the Guardian reported in mid-November. (It's not the first time women and other marginalized groups have been blamed for chaos and disaster — David French recently pointed to one topical American debate now playing out at the New York Times.)

Meanwhile, photos from the Guardian and Reuters have shown women among those praying for rain.

As dozens of the country's dams sit at less than 5% of their reservoir capacity, even if rising global temperatures haven't been the driving force behind the crisis, it's likely that lessons from climate-based policy and practice could be a part of addressing it. And from leak repairs and infrastructure updates to comprehensive conservation plans and sustainable agriculture, the solutions could be designed to be gender-responsive as well.

“ Women are the ones who understand the needs of their families and how much water is needed to manage their households,” Kowsar said. “They can teach how to manage the water to their own children. I think it has to really move from the patriarchy side of water in many countries like Iran to the women's side."

Work presented at the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition in Toronto, Canada, in August 2024 made similar points. 

"Despite Iranian women [being] a large proportion of academics and experts in water-related fields, they are systematically excluded from strategic planning in water management and policy-making," wrote co-authors Maryam Moridnejad, Negar Partow, and Mona Parizadeh. "Inclusion of women in water governance is crucial for forming any sustainable development strategy for water management. Women can help design more inclusive policies and raise issues that might otherwise be neglected."