Safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are crucial for human development, but women and girls face disproportionate challenges accessing and benefiting from these services. There’s a common belief that just improving infrastructure solves gender and social inequity in WASH. However, this overlooks deeper issues like harmful gender norms and women’s decision-making power.

We developed a tool, the Empowerment in WASH Index (EWI), to provide evidence in these crucial areas for improving both gender equality and sustainable WASH outcomes. The EWI is a tool designed to measure women’s empowerment in relation to WASH through household surveys. It can be used for diagnostics, planning, and evaluating WASH interventions, as well for conducting research in related areas. Currently, it is being tested and applied in various cultural and geographic contexts, often in collaboration with WASH practitioner organizations and actors.