Integrating energy, gender and rural development

Economic and social advancement requires people to have access to efficient and affordable fuel. However, more than two billion people in the world rely on inefficient biomass fuels such as firewood, which take time to collect. Poor rural women have primary responsibility for collecting and using this fuel, which has several consequences for their health and opportunities to earn income.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)calls for policymakers and planners to pay greater attention to women’s needsin energy planning and development. In most parts of the developing world,women spend a large proportion of their time collecting fuel. This leaveslittle time for more productive, income generating activities. It also hashealth impacts: smoke from cooking stoves in the home is a major cause of the mostprevalent respiratory diseases among women and children. In many developingcountries rural women do not have the social or economic power to invest inmore efficient stoves or other technologies.

More accessible, affordable, efficient and healthy fuelsources would improve health and help reduce poverty. Girls’ time, now spent onfuel collection, would be freed to attend school. Greater efficiency would alsomean less use of declining natural resources.

Few developing countries have a rural energy agenda. Thefocus is on urban areas and extending the electricity grid, which is noteconomically viable for small rural communities. Rural poverty rates are veryhigh and rural people spend a high proportion of their income on energysupplies. While the importance of energy for development is now largelyrecognised, few energy strategies realise the importance of genderconsiderations:

• Most energy projects take a technological,supply driven approach, rather than responding to people’s needs, especiallythose of women who mainly collect and use energy supplies.
• Energy specialists often do not see therelevance of gender considerations while gender specialists rarely focus onenergy.
• Informal, home based income generation (such as preparingfood for sale and making clothes) is often ignored but can provide importantincome for women, giving them decision-making power. Many such activitiesrequire fuel.
• Local sustainable energy schemes have potentialbut there are many barriers to their development, including access to credit,information and skills. These especially apply to women.

Efficient energy sources and technologies are central torural development. To improve the situation for women and girls, planners andpolicymakers should:

• Integrate gender analysis into energy programmesso that women’s needs are heard and met. Energy programmes should also beintegrated with other rural development programmes to ensure they respond tolocal needs rather than to technology supply.
• International meetings and agreements are nowbeginning to recognise the importance of gender for energy policy, but furtheradvocacy is necessary at meetings such as the Commission on SustainableDevelopment and the Clean Development Mechanism.
• More research is needed to highlight goodpractice and develop training resources for gender analysis in energy programmes.