IAH continues to promote equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility. The main initiative this year has been input by members of our Socio-Hydrogeology Network to UN Water’s preparation of the 2026 World Water Development Report on water and gender.
Our elections resulted in a fair gender balance in our elected officers, including IAH’s first female president. IAH’s Council now includes 6 women out of the 14 members, with an equal balance in our 4-person Executive Committee, the Council sub-group with day-to-day responsibilities for oversight of the Association.
Although we don’t have full data for members (some members don’t provide information) our make-up is reasonable for this type of organisation, though still in need of improvement. Overall, about 28% of our membership is female. Behind this headline the proportions vary with age group, with nearly 40% of student members and well over 30% of our early career members being female. For members with more than 10 years’ experience only 21% are women. It is hoped that the higher numbers in our younger age groups will gradually feed through to the whole of IAH.