Energy and Gender - Why is gender a matter of concern?

AUTHOR: LahjaAmaambo SpecialistandPolicyAnalyst–RenewableEnergyandEnergyEfficiency

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Gender equality has been spoken about for quite sometimes, as a matter of concern, locally, regionally and globally. This is because Gender is an aspect of cross-cutting nature that policymakers now call for mainstreaming it in various key sectors of the economy

Main issues related to energy and gender are those surrounding: access to electricity; access to clean cooking; women bearing the greatest burden of the energy poverty which is their unpaid time and labour that is goes into gathering biomass fuels for cooking; collecting water or manually process grains and other foods; also household air pollution, coming from burning fuels such as wood, animal waste and charcoal.

For Namibia, the overarching goal of it’s National Gender Policy (2010 – 2020) is to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of both female and male persons in Namibia This framework provides mechanisms and guidelines for all sectors and other stakeholders for planning, implementing and monitoring gender equality strategies and programmes to ensure that these would facilitate gender equality and women’s empowerment

To ensure equitable access to economic resources and opportunities, as well as social justice for both women and men, the Namibia‘s National Gender Policy 2010-2020, advocates for: enabling environment for sectors to mainstream gender in line with National Development Plans directives all stakeholders identified in the implementation framework to support and contribute towards the implementation of the National Gender Policy through organisational structures and policies, and to avail the required resources within their programmes for effective implementation of this National Policy asking.

The National Energy Policy 2017, incorporated gender aspects under a theme “mainstreaming gender, youth and people with disabilities” The concerned aspects are: predominance of women involved in the collection and use of fuel-wood disadvantages them in terms of economic opportunities and exposes them to increased health risks limited involvement of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in the planning, management, and delivery of energy services

Government’s gender balance aspirations in the energy sector have, as yet, not been met limited ability of specific groups of people to access and afford modern and clean energy affects their opportunity to meaningfully participate in the economy

The question is how far are those policy issues implemented by key energy stakeholders, and what transformation is achieved, and not just by increasing the number of women, youth and people with disabilities in the energy sector?

The Southern African Development Community, SADC Gender and Development Monitor 2022, on Women in Politics and Decision making, tracking the progress on implementation of the revised SADC Protocol on Gender and Development (aligned to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and the AU Agenda 2063), data shows that women are under-represented at all levels of decision-making in the region, and achieving gender parity in political life is far off That this is attributed to the type of electoral system used by Member States which has a crucial impact on women’s political representation and participation.

The SACREEE 2018 report shows that, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2016, some 174,561 deaths in the SADC region were attributable to household air pollution, primarily because of cooking and heating with solid fuels

This report also indicates that biomass is by far the major source of primary energy in most SADC Member States, traditional biomass accounting for 44% of the region’s final energy consumption as of mid-2018, excluding bagasse for boilers in the sugar industry The greatest amount of biomass energy is used for cooking, in both homes and some institutions (for example, schools, offices and retail premises, particularly in rural areas) Programmes introduced for alternatives fuels as well as for energy efficient stoves had not much real impacted on the biomass use either could be due to failure of projects or maybe due to unknown causes.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are prerequisites for achieving UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals and other global goals The Sustainable Development Goals seek to change the course of the twenty-first century, addressing key challenges such as eradicating poverty and hunger, eliminating inequalities and violence against women and girls and combating climate change

A five-year research programme on gender and energy (2014-2019), coordinated by International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy also called ENERGIA, explored gender, energy and poverty linkages in six thematic areas: electrification, productive uses of energy, energy sector reform, the role of the private sector in scaling up energy access; the political economy of energy sector policies, and; women’s energy entrepreneurship Key findings of this research are: Universal energy access targets are unlikely to be met unless energy policies are aligned to women’s as well as men’s energy needs, their assets, skills, limitations and capabilities, and existing gender norms; Involvement of women in energy-system supply chains is good for women and their families, and it is good for business;

Modern energy services for women's productive uses contribute to women's empowerment; and End-use appliances that deliver modern energy services to reduce drudgery and save time can transform gender roles and relations

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o e e gy pol c es a d p og a es to e able ge de equitable outcomes;

Support women's involvement in energy-system value chains and employment, both by overcoming gender barriers and through equal opportunity strategies; Multiply social and economic impacts of energy access by targeting women's productive use; Increase poor women's ability to afford energy services through innovative financial mechanisms and by improving the enabling environment for women; Improve reliability, convenience, and quality of energy supply to increase both women's and men's access to and use of energy services; and

Support women's role in energy decision-making at household, organisational, and policy levels

Women are now seen becoming part of the solution in expanding energy access, freeing up their traditional role as user and beneficiaries of energy. Also, and according to the UNIDO and UN Women, 2019 guidance note, Gender equality in the sustainable energy transition, provides an overview of key and emerging issues in the gender and energy nexus, and indicates that:

Gender equality is key in the transition to sustainable energy and ensuring universal energy access

The sustainable energy transition can create benefits and opportunities for both women and men. Women-led initiatives and projects are successful in the new energy space, especially sustainable energy solutions at the community level Women are also increasingly active in the energy workforce and as entrepreneurs in SMEs, contributing to economic growth and industrial development

The dialogue on gender and energy has clearly shifted from women being identified as a vulnerable group to their recognition as key agents of change as consumers, producers, innovators, and decision makers across the energy sector

That those are illustrated by research findings and case studies

Accordingly, there is evidence globally that the landscape on gender and energy has blossomed over the past decade Effective integration of gender dimensions is crucial for the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 7 to ensure access to affordable, reliable,sustainableandmodernenergyforall

So are the key actions then will surround planning, implementing gender equality strategies and programmes as well as implementing much needed capacity-building. This will include partnerships with local stakeholders, expanding women’s access to finance and building a conducive enabling environment for women entrepreneurs. For effective understanding there is a need for organizing regular monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects for policy implementation, and record accurate data for achieving our national Vision, development plans, and SDGs as always, the conversation continues infocus@rdjpublishing.africa

Readings:

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/17489P B12 pdf; https://www unido org/sites/default/files/unido-publications/202311/UNW UNIDO Gender Equality in the Sustainable Energy Trans ition GuidanceN pdf https://www energia org/assets/2019/04/Gender-in-the-transitionto-sustainable-energy-for-all -From-evidence-to-inclusivepolicies FINAL pdf https://sadcenergy.sardc.net/attachments/article/275/Mainstreaming Gender i n Energy Policy Brief pdf https://www sacreee org/index php/resource/sadc-2018-renewableenergy-and-energy-efficiency-status-report https://1325naps peacewomen org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/12/namibia gender 2010-2020 en pdf; https://www.mme.gov.na/files/publications/fd8 National%20Energy %20Policy%20-%20July%202017 pdf