Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) awarded Athena a grant to analyze barriers limiting women's participation in leadership roles in sanitation-related public bodies in Kenya. The grant falls under its Urban Sanitation Research Initiative. The research design employed mixed methods to assess gender balance in decision-making/technical roles. It also identified barriers to female participation in those roles. The study aimed to capture how gender might impact, shape, or shift the definition of sanitation among decision-makers. It then looked at how this leads to differing policy priorities, or intervention approaches where women are given greater presence, voice, and power in the sanitation sector. The research examined the internal workings of organizations in the sanitation sector, as a potential source of gender inequity in their external service delivery.

As part of this research, Athena Infonomics conducted a literature review focused on four thematic areas, chosen to provide context for our research and fit in and fill gaps in existing literature on gender and leadership, especially in WASH: (i) the business case for women indecision-making roles in the corporate sector and challenges for women leaders;(ii) gender inequity in sanitation governance; (iii) barriers to women in technical fields; and (iv) gender roles and cultural norms in Kenya.