This week, we’re highlighting the work of Dr Bethany Caruso, an RGHI Senior Fellow, whose research is addressing a pressing gap in advancing global hygiene policy: the absence of gender-specific indicators to make women’s voices, needs and experiences visible in global water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) monitoring systems.

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (universal Clean Water and Sanitation) is essential for health and well-being, yet progress cannot be fully realised without also advancing gender equality (SDG 5). Despite this, current SDG 6 targets do not include gender-specific indicators, meaning the hygiene needs, risks, and experiences of women and girls often remain obscured within national and global monitoring systems. Without this vital gender lens, inequities are overlooked, and opportunities for effective, inclusive action are missed.

Dr Caruso’s research directly addresses this challenge by accelerating the integration of gender-related indicators into national and global monitoring of SDG 6 WASH targets, with a specific focus on hygiene. This research helps illuminate long-ignored inequities in hygiene – such as the disproportionate time burden of water collection to maintain household hygiene, and menstrual health needs – and strengthens the evidence needed to inform decision-making and guide effective hygiene policies and programmes. The project focuses on identifying priority gender indicators, validating and piloting new measures, and understanding how gender-responsive indicators can be adopted and scaled across different country contexts.

RGHI’s support enables research that strengthens the foundations of evidence-based hygiene policy. By improving how hygiene is monitored globally, Dr Caruso’s work helps ensure that gender equality is no longer peripheral to WASH progress, but aptly recognised as central to it.

“What gets measured shapes what gets prioritised. Prof. Caruso’s work is vital for making gender inequities in hygiene visible, enabling better decisions and more equitable outcomes across the WASH sector.”

– Sarah Roberts, RGHI Executive Director

The RGHI Spotlights Series showcases researchers’ inspiring work on improving global hygiene and health outcomes. Each post highlights a project funded through an RGHI grant or fellowship, detailing its goals, progress, and potential impact. These spotlights celebrate innovation and collaboration in tackling some of the world’s most pressing hygiene challenges.

To learn more about RGHI-funded research and its contributions to advancing hygiene and health globally, explore our research portfolio. 

Stay tuned for more next week and follow RGHI on LinkedIn and BlueSky for the latest updates.