Women in Waste Management : Delila Khaled: “Women are the missing link to accelerating impact"

Delila Khaled has been working in global development for almost three decades. So she knows a thing or two. And one ought to believe her when she says that more often than not women are the missing link when it comes to accelerating growth.
 
Most people don’t have a career master plan, but Delila Khaled knew early on what she wanted. “I’ve always been fascinated with people and cultures and how culture interacts with systems,” the 51-year-old shares during our video call. She studied religion and anthropology as an undergraduate. Then, she got her first job with UNICEF, and within 48 hours after her graduation, Delila was on a plane to Cairo, where she helped pilot the first-ever rural microfinance programme in Egypt, with focus on women entrepreneurs. “This is when I knew what I wanted to do with my career. So, I moved to Washington DC to pursue my master’s degree in international development. Did I know that I would end up working on waste, gender, civil engineering and all that stuff? No, but I came into that through my passion for working at the community level – trying to respond directly to peoples’ expressed needs. And I've been working in global development ever since.”
 
Coming from a globetrotter family – her parents hail from Egypt, Delila was born in the US but grew up in Bahrain, went to school in England and to university in the US and Egypt – she felt no apprehension about leaving her home at the drop of a hat. “I wasn’t scared. I was excited!” she recalls. She still thrives on new experiences: “I love change!” she explains with a smile.

>>> Gasmet's Nenne Nordström “I want to make an impact”

This openness has led to an impressive and varied career. She is also not afraid to set up her own businesses. In her first company, established 12 years ago, she led the design and implementation of pioneering waste management programmes focusing on ocean plastic pollution and upgrading of urban informal settlements. Today, in addition to leading the gender dimension of the open waste burning project for Engineering X, she is the director of ImpaXus, a global development consultancy she founded. Delila is working in emerging markets across Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
 
Whatever her job, it’s always with an eye on people and the disadvantaged. Early on, her focus was on rural development; but with people migrating to urban informal settlements, this changed her course. “There are no services in slums,” Delila clarifies. “But people need basic infrastructure, from water to electricity, from paved roads to lighting at night. And at a certain point, with the massive uptick in plastics, they also started asking for waste management.” This was her entry point to the waste and resources sector. 

>>> Why we need a gendered approach to end open waste burning

It is basically her business ethos to support women: “It’s not because I’m a feminist, which I am. It’s because in every sector that I’ve worked in, whether it was finance, water or waste, it always came back to women in terms of untapped potential for growth. It's not just about equality. Whatever the issues were, women always seemed to be the missing link in terms of what we could do to accelerate impact.” Taking gender into consideration is, so to speak, the smart thing to do – for communities, the environment and the economy. 
 
And here comes the tricky part: Focusing on gender is different from focusing on women. “It is about understanding the differences in the needs, skills, concerns, perceptions, impacts and costs for women and men, and the unique interrelation between those genders across cultures. This impacts how we can improve our programmes, policies and services. How we can deliver more effective solutions that address the reality of what's happening on the ground, instead of just another quick cookie-cutter solution,” Delila explains. You get the feeling this is something she must explain on a regular basis. 
 
Waste management has traditionally been a male-dominated industry due to its labour-intensive, hazardous nature, requiring physical work, heavy equipment and travel ‒ barriers that have limited women's access, especially in emerging economies.
Even in the West, where waste management is more formal, the sector remains male-led in business, academia and government. Historically, a lack of representation and role models further discouraged women from entering the field. However, in the past decade, their visibility has increased, and more women are pursuing diverse careers in the waste management sector, though challenges remain.
 
According to Delila, the participation of women in the sector is important. Not only because they bring a different view and understanding – especially of the needs and problems of women – to the table. “There is a lot of evidence to show that women and environmental concerns go hand in hand – from corporate boards to informal waste workers – and that gender diversity drives innovation. Moreover, women entrepreneurs are more committed to making a difference in the world compared to their male counterparts.”
Beyond that, investing in women has a multiplier effect. Unlike one-off solutions, women reinvest in their families and communities, driving broader change. In male-dominated sectors like waste management, recognising this untapped potential isn’t just about equity ‒ it’s about smarter, more effective solutions for climate action and the circular economy.

>>>  Redwave's Silvia Schweiger-Fuchs"Challenges are there to help you grow"

“Women are definitely making their way into management roles in waste management, but we still don’t have enough data on the challenges they face. That’s one of the reasons we started the Women of Waste Task Force ‒ to bridge that gap,” she stresses. ISWA’s Women of Waste (WOW!) was formally established in 2020. The task force investigates the relationship between gender and sustainable waste management and resource recovery systems, advocating for women’s empowerment in the sector. It’s not merely a women’s business circle, as some have assumed. 
“From our network, we’ve seen a rise in female leadership, but are women truly breaking through or just filling token roles? We know from other legacy male-dominated industries that real change happens when companies intentionally integrate gender into their policies and hiring practices. If waste management follows that path, we’ll see major progress.”
 
She goes on to explain, “Gender parity doesn’t necessarily mean 50:50, but reaching a critical mass, say 60:40, is key. If we set quotas, we must ask: Are women advancing, or are they being sidelined into administrative roles with no path to technical or leadership positions?

To drive real progress, we must shift cultures, perceptions, and behaviours through education, data, and evidence. We need to change how people think!” she asserts firmly. And Delila Khaled is out there doing just that.