User:UWgeographyEnjoyer/Energy poverty and gender

Energy poverty is defined as lacking access to an affordable sustainable energy service. Geographically, it is unevenly distributed between developing and developed countries. In 2019, there were an estimated 770 million people who have no access to electricity, with approximately 95% of those distributed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In developing countries, poor women and girls living in the rural areas are significantly affected by energy poverty, because they are usually responsible for providing the primary energy for households. In developed countries, single mothers, single women, and old women living alone are mostly affected by energy poverty mainly from disparities in income and the costs of energy services. Energy poverty has negative ramifications for health, education, and gender equality in both developed and developing countries.

There are some solutions to address energy poverty, but few that address it specifically in the contexts of gender inequality. Solutions focus mainly on small-scale, off-grid renewable energy.

Even though energy access is an important climate change adaptation tool especially for maintaining health (i.e. access to air conditioning, information etc.), a systematic review published in 2019 found that research does not account for these effects onto vulnerable populations like women.

In developing countries[edit]

Domestic responsibilities

In developing countries, energy poverty is a significantly gendered issue. Approximately 70% of the 1.3 billion people in developing countries living in poverty are women. Women living in rural areas are usually responsible for housework, including gathering fuels, gathering water, cooking, and farming. A study focusing on India found women living in rural areas provide approximately 92% of total household energy supply, and 85% of their energy for cooking is provided by the biomass from forests or fields.

Health impacts from energy consumption

Energy poverty in rural households causes health problems for women and children. One such example of a health issue caused by energy poverty comes in the form of indoor air pollution from traditional stoves. A United Nations study indicated that cooking with biomass is predicted to be responsible for 1.5 million deaths per year by 2030. Other health risks imposed by energy consumption are linked with the heavy workload of collecting fuels and exposure to malnutrition. Meanwhile, the scarcity of fuel makes energy-impoverished women less likely to use the collected fuels for sanitizing water from sources not fit for consumption, which might increase the risk of water-borne diseases.

In addition, the powering of medical equipment and tools, the refrigeration of blood and vaccines, and the performing of basic health procedures after dark are all made possible with a reliable energy supply. Unreliable energy supply prevents patient care at night, especially for pregnant women in labor and pregnant women undergoing an emergency cesarean section at night. Energy poverty is a large contributing factor to the 95% maternal mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa.

Time poverty

Energy poverty further affects women by burdening them with "time poverty", a concept that refers to the lack of time for rest, leisure, working outside, and education due to other necessary activities requiring ones' attention. In the contexts of energy poverty, it is a consequence committing an inordinate amount of time to gather the fuel to supply domestic energy use. The burden of collecting fuel for domestic energy use lies mainly with women and children , and in developing countries, they can be gathering fuel for up to 10 hours a week. The forest degradation caused by climate change might exaggerate the current problem.

Time poverty can also impact health outcomes. A 2017 survey showed that approximately 1 in 4 American women delayed seeking necessary healthcare as a result of time poverty. Another survey of pregnant South African showed that domestic labor reduce the usage of prenatal care.

Participation in decision-making

Also, energy poverty and gender manifests in the area of decision making and participation within the household. Studies have shown that in the rural areas in developing countries, men usually have more power in making decisions in purchasing energy devices or new technologies. This is because men and women have different and distinct perception about energy needs. Excluding women from participating public discussion and decision-making process is likely to lead to the failure in addressing the effects of energy poverty on women.

Energy Poverty and Education[edit]

Energy poverty affects teaching and learning. Lack of access to energy reduces children performance and attendance, particularly in rural areas of developing countries. In some cases, women and girls may not attend school, even when enrolled, to meet their energy needs.

Example

In sub-Saharan African countries, energy poverty is especially challenging, due to the high cost of extending grid electricity in existing scattered rural settlement. For example, in Tanzania, energy poverty is affecting the livelihood of the majority, with only 15.5% of the population has access to electricity. The lack of electricity leads to the missing of efficient energy services like cooking, lighting etc. Hence the basic capabilities for development, like education, health, transportation are restricted. In face of energy poverty, the burden of supplying household energy use disproportionately lies on women than men. A case study in Tanzania examines impact of a women-oriented solar lighting social enterprise project on health, education, livelihood and gender equality. The results indicate that increasing the accessibility to energy service for women, could contribute to empowering women, children and local families’ development.

Possible solutions

While unlikely that any one solution will solve energy poverty and its gender disparities in its entirety, there are some actions being taken to address energy poverty as a whole. One possible solution for energy poverty includes the wide-scale deployment of small scale renewable energy sources, like windmills, solar panels and hydropower, that don't require a connection to an established power grid. Another important avenue for solving energy poverty comes from ensuring access to reliable energy information, so that energy impoverished people are able to make easy and inexpensive improvements to their home energy system's efficiency.

To address the health impacts that come with cooking with biomass, coal, and kerosene, there are some non-governmental organizations like the Clean Cooking Alliance whose mission includes the distribution of clean cooking appliances, like electric stoves, and influencing market forces to better support clean cooking.

In developed countries

In developed countries, elderly women living alone are affected disproportionately by energy poverty. In fact, a survey of women in the EU found that single mothers and single women are the highest risk cohort when it comes to struggling to pay energy bills. There are more women living alone than men because of their relatively longer life expectancy. Older women usually have less pensions to support themselves, because they worked mostly inside the house. The rise in energy cost affects the affordability of heating and cooling service at home. Data from the UK Office for National Statistics indicates that, women have higher Excess Winter Mortality (EWM) more than men, and there is an increase of EWM from 8.2% to 12.4% between 2013 and 2012, among women under 65. Furthermore, the increasing energy price, relative low income, and energy-inefficient houses together contribute to energy poverty in developed countries.

Components

There are gender gaps in the energy labor market, energy-related education and decision-making process in developed countries. In the European Union, men dominant the energy sector with 77.9% in the workforce. Studies show that the under-representation is attributed to the following reasons: lack of necessary skills caused by the energy education gap, the perception of stereotypical men-domain energy sectors, and lack of opportunities for women working in energy sectors. The gendered energy education is related to the traditional images of ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ subjects as well as the lack of mentoring programs engaging female students to study in science subjects, like energy. Women are also under-represented in the decision-making process in energy sections in developed countries. A study conducted in Germany, Sweden and Spain shows that there is no female staff work in management group or as board member in the 295 energy companies they investigated in 2010. Similar situation is observed in the public energy sector, with 82.7% of high-level position occupied by men, though it is better in Nordic countries than in Mediterranean countries. Those gender gaps contribute to the "gender blindness" in the energy policies in developed countries.

Example

Caitlin Robinson (2019) conducted a study on gender and poverty in England. With the socio-spatial analysis, he argued that energy poverty could increase the gendered vulnerabilities. Five dimensions of gendered socio-spatial energy vulnerability are examined, including

• Exclusion from a productive economy
• Unpaid reproductive, caring or domestic roles
• Coping and helping others to cope
• Susceptibility to physiological and mental health impacts
• Lack of social protection during a life course "

The result indicated that energy poverty is connected with economic and social activities and health, but more complex effects of energy vulnerability and gender should be analyzed at the household level, since it is relatively individual.

Responses

Some research indicates that investing in low-emission energy technologies can increase the accessibility to modern energy services, which will benefit the women living in energy poverty. The low-emission technologies are believed to be able to free poor women from fuel collection and drudgery, protect them from the air pollution caused by burning biomass, and enable them to have time for education and participating in public discussion etc.

Other research argues that merely technologies approach is not enough, and suggests engaging local women in the decision-making process for locally appropriate energy programs.

Pueyo & Maestre (2019) further studied whether men and women benefit differently in electrification. The results indicate that electrification benefits women in accessing paid works, but not as much as men. Women still have relatively lower quality works after electrification. Policies that address gender mainstreaming are suggested to consider both women's existing domestic work, and their accessibility to profitable activities, hence empowering them for long-term development.