Gender and energy research program

Project

Gender and Energy Research Program

Project status

Completed

Core countries:

Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Worldwide

Project vision

To build an evidence base that supports informed policy making to decrease gender inequalities in energy access and ensure equal benefits of energy access.

Aims and objectives

ENERGIA’s Gender and Energy Research program, which supported the broader Sustainable Energy, Access and Gender (SEAG) Programme funded by the FCDO (formerly DFID), explores the linkages between gender, energy and poverty through empirical research, with the aim to translate this evidence into recommendations for energy policy and practice.

The program comprised nine teams of researchers in 12 countries across Africa and Asia, focusing on the following research themes:

Impacts of electrification
Productive uses of energy
Political economy of gender in the energy sector
Energy sector reform
The role of the private sector in scaling up energy access
Women’s energy entrepreneurship

Why

Energy is central to tackling almost every major global challenge and access to energy (SDG 7) is widely considered to be a key enabler for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For this to happen however, it is critical to improve energy interventions so that they better meet the demands of women and make better use of their capacities.

Activities

Quantitative data was collected from surveys covering more than 11 thousand interviewees. Qualitative data was gathered from 547 semi-structured interviews, 188 key informant interviews, 293 participatory focus group discussions, and many stakeholder meetings ranging from workshops to discussions with experts, and literature studies.

6 key findings

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.
End-use appliances that deliver modern energy services to reduce manual labor and save time can transform gender roles and relations.
Improving the affordability, reliability, capacity and convenience of modern energy services can help achieve gender-equitable outcomes, and will be critical for universal energy access.
Engaging with political processes can help women access modern energy services and change gender norms.

Impacts

The project was instrumental in influencing policy and practice in many ways. For example, it engendered the Kenya national energy policy. It influenced the program design of the EnDev partner programs, informing the national action planning process for ECREEE (ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency) and it influenced the narrative of the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) SDG process.

The synthesis report presents the overall findings and policy implications. Read more about the synthesis report or download the full report.