Gender and waste management: Did you know…?

Gender refers to sociocultural norms, identities, and relations that: 1) structure societies and organizations; and 2) shape behaviors, products, technologies, environments, and knowledge (Schiebinger, 1999). Gender attitudes and behaviors are complex and change across time and place. Importantly, gender is multidimensional (Hyde et al., 2018; Dubois et al., 2025) and intersects with other social categories, such as sex, age, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and ethnicity (see intersectionality. Gender is distinct from sex (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). Historically, gender definitions have been based on a binary concept – women and men. In most key UN definitions, this binary framework continues to dominate, including in chemical policy. To avoid exclusions, newer definitions and guidelines often additionally use the term “all genders”. Beyond defining gender, applying a binary concept within the difference approach to Gender Mainstreaming remains valuable, productive and necessary, as it allows for comparing the experiences of women and men. Analyzing these differences and using binary-disaggregated data provides insights into social structures and inequalities. While we often work with binary categories for analytical purposes (also in chemicals management), we want to do so with a clear awareness of their limitations and with the aim of building more inclusive approaches in the future.

Gender (or sexual) division of labor: This is an important concept in basic gender analysis that helps deepen understanding about social relations as an entry point to sustainable change through development. The division of labor refers to the way each society divides work among men and women, boys and girls, according to socially established gender roles or what is considered suitable and valuable for each sex. Within the division of labor, there are several types of roles:

Productive roles: Activities carried out by men and women in order to produce goods and services either for sale, exchange, or to meet the subsistence needs of the family.
Reproductive roles: Activities needed to ensure the reproduction of society’s labor force. This includes housework like cleaning, cooking, childbearing, rearing, and caring for family members. These tasks are done mostly by women.
Community managing role: Activities undertaken primarily by women at the community level, as an extension of their reproductive role, to ensure the provision and maintenance of scarce resources of collective consumption such as water, health care, and education. This is voluntary unpaid work performed during “free” time.
Community politics role: Activities undertaken primarily by men at the community level, often within the framework of national politics. This officially recognized leadership role may be paid directly or result in increased power or status.
Triple role: This refers to the fact that women tend to work longer and more fragmented days than men as they are usually involved in three different roles: reproductive, productive, and community work.

Gender neutral refers to situations where gender is not considered relevant to development outcomes. Gender norms, roles, and relations are not affected (neither worsened nor improved). However, caution is required, as indirect gendered effects may be easily overlooked (see also: gender blind).