News

A new opinion piece written by Sheila Oparaocha and Elizabeth Cecelski (ENERGIA), Rabia Ferroukhi (IRENA), Dymphna van der Lans (Clean Cooking Alliance), Irene Giner-Reichl (GWNET), Monica Maduekwe (ECREEE), Ajaita Shah (Frontier Markets) calls for gender equality in the post COVID-19 measures.

Short-terms effects of the pandemic in terms of energy access and the role of women are devastating and need to be mitigated, despite the fact that women are fighting in the frontlines to alleviate the effects of the pandemic. The opinion piece calls on the inclusion of sustainable energy options in recovery packages, and identifies four major opportunities to address long-standing inequalities and promote women’s empowerment in the energy sector:

1. “Provide equal opportunities to participate in the clean energy economy, as entrepreneurs and employees, and provide equal funding and investment for their businesses. Enable the participation of women through STEM education and workforce training, mentoring and coaching, work-life balance policies.
2. Recognize and mitigate gender-based vulnerabilities in the energy sector that have worsened with the pandemic in health care, gender-based violence and the digital economy. Enable access to electricity to prevent women from being excluded from the digital economy.
3. Better energy access and suitable appliances to support women’s roles in the care economy, with special emphasis on cooking.  
4. Allocate positions for women at the tables where decisions are being made and post recovery measures are being planned. Excluding women from the preparation of stimulus plans will not enable, but rather hinder the achievement of SDG7 targets.” (Source: ENERGIA (2020): Gender and Energy at Center Stage in COVID-19 Battle. Powering a more gender-equal recovery.)

To download the COVID-19 position paper published by ENERGIA, please click here.