It is well known that women usually bear the burden of providing biomass fuels for daily domestic use. Less well known is the extent to which human energy is an essential element in the household economy. The results of a case study of a typical village in Karnataka, India, can be used to demonstrate this. Our experience with attempts to improve the situation by the use of new energy technologies, leads us to propose a women’s energy entrepreneur project to assist women to become energy entrepreneurs, thus “engendering” energy and empowering women.