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Mainstreaming Gender within Rural Infrastructure Development
Rural women have rarely been key decision makers or active participants in the diverse phases of infrastructure
development, resulting in “gender blind” policies and services that do not efficiently reach or include them. This is
often so because “gender relations, social norms and values often set unequal parameters for men and women’s
(differentiated) access to the use of, and control over, infrastructure services and facilities resulting in negative
impacts.”1 This topic has been included specifically in the 2030 Agenda2, aligning with the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) 1, 9, 5, and 13: Erradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger, Industries, Innovation and Infrastructure,
Gender Equality, and Climate Change that are complementary. There is evidence which shows that mainstreaming
gender in infrastructure has a direct impact in the improvement of lives of both women, girls and rural communities
in general, while guaranteeing sustainability of actions.3 This policy brief analyzes and recommends strategies and
policy actions with a gender perspective in the following key infrastructure sectors: social services, transport and
roads, water and sanitation, and energy, with resilience as a cross-cutting issue.
W20 partner initiative working group Marisol Zubizarreta, International Gender Consultant, UN Women. Gabriela Mata, Private Sector Specialist, UN Women. Fabiana Menna, WB and IDB International Consultant - W20 Expert.
Carolina Villanueva, Content Director W20.
Georgina Sticco, Content Consultant W20.
Verónica Raffo, Senior Infrastructure Specialist, World Bank.
Special thanks to:
Florencia Magdalena Mendez and María Eugenia Castelao Caruana, Researchers, CEUR-CONICET.
María del Carmen Fleytas, Environmental Specialist.
Abstract
➢ Millions of women and men are denied their rights to decent social services because of a lack of adequate
infrastructure. For women, in particular, social infrastructure services (education, health, child-care, etc.)
are particularly important because of their reproductive and other gender-specific needs and roles, since
they also tend to perform the bulk of unpaid care and household management.
➢ Women and men´s needs, preferences and patterns for transportation are different according to their
gender roles in society. Limited access to and safety of transportation are estimated to be one of the
greatest obstacles to women´s access to employment opportunities in developing countries, reducing
their participation probability in the labor market.
➢ Construction of community roads are an important area to improve women´s income and overall
empowerment as skilled and non-skilled workers. A gender perspective during the design,
implementation and monitoring and evaluation stages is needed to reduce the risk of discrimination in the
workplace, due to gender norms and stereotypes. These strategies should bring about sustainable
infrastructure and improve overall women and girls´ access to diverse social services.
➢ The quality of water and sanitation infrastructure is directly linked to the quality of life of rural
communities, but more so for women since they pay a high cost to collect clean water from nearby
streams or wells, in lieu of education, recreation, paid work or rest. They are often the group that also
lead actions to mitigate droughts, floods, and general water management in their communities. Policies
must be designed for sustainability, recognizing women´s vital role in this process, with the introduction
of technology that safeguards environmental aspects.
1
Braeden, Ingav; Martinez Sola, Luz Maria; Vossenberg, Sasha (2018), “Mainstreaming Gender Equality to Improve Infrastructure
Development Impact:PIDG Kit Final Report.”
2 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
3 CSW62 Secretary General Report, 2018.
➢ Sustainable energy is especially critical to improving health, safety, productivity, education, and income-
generation opportunities for women and girls, who are disproportionately impacted by lack of access, as
they are often primarily responsible for collecting fuel at the community level. Women are also
disproportionately affected by climate change and disasters because of the role they play in providing for
the energy needs of their families and because they comprise a large number of the poor communities
that depend on natural resources for their livelihood. They are powerful agents of change, contributing
toward designing and implementing affordable and resilient technology when give the opportunity to
participate in diverse phases of energy infrastructure.
➢ Incorporating the gender perspective within infrastructure projects directly impacts rural development,
since it strengthens participation and community-based organizations, women´s empowerment, capacity
development, and public and private partnerships for new business opportunities.
➢ Successful pilot projects with gender strategies in the transport, water and sanitation, and energy sectors,
with resilient technology have proven to be more cost efficient, sustainable in time, while improving social
indicators in terms of access to education, health services, employment, etc.
G20 members must ensure that women are active members in the planning, approval, construction, and
maintenance stages of infrastructure projects with close collaboration of public and private stakeholders. When
both men and women´s needs are taken into account, investment in infrastructure can be a powerful tool in the
pursuit of gender equality.
Women’s current situation and challenges ahead
Millions of women and men are denied their rights
to decent social services because of a lack of
adequate infrastructure. Worldwide, more than one
billion people lack access to roads, 844 million do not
have access to clean water, 1600 million do not have
adequate energy sources and 4 billion people do not
benefit from modern communication services.4 For
women in particular, social infrastructure5 services
are particularly important because of their
reproductive and other gender-specific needs and
roles, since they also tend to perform the bulk of
unpaid care, accompanying children and other sick
family members.6 Also, there is a need for
investment in quality, resilient infrastructure that
considers gender aspects in rural areas, since women
are more directly affected by climate change and
environmental disasters. In particular, indigenous,
women and girls that live in remote areas are
4
World Bank, Action Plan for Sustainable Infrastructure,
2008. 5 Social infrastructure refers to the core elements of social
change (ex. schools, hospitals) which serves as a foundation for the process of social development. 6
UN Women, Progress of the World´s Women 2015-2016.
exposed to a higher degree of poverty and violence
and rely heavily on their natural resource base. 7
Economic infrastructure understood as “all such
elements of economic change (ex. transport, power,
energy, etc.) serves as a foundation for economic
growth.”8 However, building new roads, expanding
electricity grids and improving water supply services
do not automatically foster women’s well-being9.
The unequal division of roles in the labor market and
division of time spent on domestic tasks can have an
impact on the way women and men use or need
certain types of infrastructure10. Specifically in rural
areas, women pay a high price for the lack of
infrastructure, in terms of time that they must
dedicate to collecting water for domestic and
agricultural use, processing and sale of food and
other products, collecting firewood for energy
7
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62), 6th
-7th
February 2018. 8
7 Essays, UK. (November 2013). Economic and Social
Infrastructure. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/economics/economic-and-social-infrastructure-economics-essay.php?vref=1. 9
Asian Development Bank. Infrastructure can be a
powerful driver for gender equality in Bangladesh, 2017. 10
European Institute for Gender Equality. What does
infrastructure have to do with gender equality? 2016.
sources, and accessing general health and education
services for themselves and family members.11 This
poverty of time, limits their participation in
economic opportunities and their active involvement
in decision making groups. Thus, addressing these
key aspects in infrastructure must be a priority to
achieve SDG goals set to alleviate poverty and
promote gender equality.
Rural infrastructure in the transport sector affects
women´s actual realization of human rights. The
costs of travel and time, and fear and insecurity
around travel, often outweigh the benefits of the
services provided.12 Additionally, limited access to
and safety of transportation are estimated to be the
greatest obstacle to women´s access to employment
opportunities in developing countries, reducing their
participation probability in the labor market by 16.5
percentage points.13 This holistic approach to
structural inequalities is key for policy-makers as
they plan and implement transport infrastructure
projects, where both women and men must be
active participants in decision-making processes.
On the other hand, construction and maintenance of
infrastructure in themselves bring new jobs and
business opportunities. But due to gender norms,
women are rarely considered for these jobs and
when hired they hold traditional stereotypical jobs
(ex. cleaning and cooking) and are not hired for
managerial and decision-making positions. Women´s
participation in this sector averages 10% in the
developing world, and around 3% hold non-
traditional careers.14
On the bright side, there are
windows of opportunity for improving women´s
employment in this sector, since private companies
have reported a higher demand for local skilled
workers (average 10-60% local workers).15 If women
are trained and given a time to show their skills
throughout a practical internship, employers tend to
overcome their myths associated to women´s skills
and overall performance in non-traditional careers. A
midterm evaluation of the Paraguayan Case Study in
Community Roads found that employers reported
11
IFAD, ILO, FAO, Gender and Rural Employment-
Orientation Document Number 5, 2010. 12
Idem 5. 13
The World Bank. Gender and Infrastructure
presentation, 2018. 14
IADB, The Relationship between Gender and Transport,
2015. 15 Idem.
high satisfaction with women´s responsibility,
honesty, skills in operating heavy machinery,
topography, and their contribution to overall
diversity in the workplace.16
Thus, the quality and sustainability of social and
economic infrastructure investments depends on the
degree of both women and men´s participation
throughout the project cycle of infrastructure
development.
Gender Mainstreaming within the Transport
and Roads Sector
A gender analysis is critical during the design,
implementation and monitoring and evaluation
phases of transport infrastructure development. In
this way, both women and men´s perspective are
part of the discussion and decision making towards
types of transport offered along with specifications
for adequate spacing and special needs (ex. women
with disabilities), main routes that align with non-
paid work and care responsibilities as well as
employment, and adequate safety measures and
lighting surrounding these services to reduce the
chances of sexual harassment.
Rural women should not just be thought of as end-
users, but also as a pool of skilled workers who will
contribute to the diversity of the workforce if
granted equal opportunities in the construction of
their community roads. Their participation will
contribute to their economic empowerment,
removing stereotypical myths associated to labor
division.
➢ Mobility of Care
Women and men have diverse transport needs and
patterns depending on their socio-economic
situation and responsibilities that often times are not
taken into consideration at the time of designing
transport services in a community. Recent statistics
from pilot projects in Spain and London, show how
non-paid work related to child care is still largely
women´s responsibility, therefore they select their
type of transport and frequency according to their
role in caring for children´s education and health and
overall management of the home. Often time these
roles extend to transporting elderly parents and
16
IADB Paraguay, Participatory Evaluation of Gender Pilot
Project with Contracting Companies, 2017.
relatives that require health attention on a regular
basis.
In this context, the concept of “mobility of care” was
first introduced by Inés Sanchez de Madriaga which
provides a perspective to recognize and reevaluate
the care work. She states that by introducing this
category within the mobility surveys, you could not
only quantify the significant number of trips that
women and men do with this purpose, but also
analyze women and men´s trip patters to design
adequate transport services with a gender
perspective.
More studies should analyze the particular situation
that rural women face, since in the developing world
they often times not only lack quality transport but
also basic community roads to transport their farm
goods to markets, access quality health and
education services, among other rights. This isolation
places them at a particular disadvantage compared
to urban women, for which mobility of care and
other specific categories should be inserted within
surveys to reveal this distinct context. The degree of
safe transport and adequate roads determines the
type of employment women and girls´ access and
education services, since public transport often
times does not reach their isolated areas.
In this sense, focusing public and private policies to
improve this sector are key to removing barriers for
rural women´s full participation in economic
activities (production and commercialization),
accessing basic health and education services, and
strategic needs relating to participating in political
decision-making bodies. This is their window to the
world and other communities to fully participate in
the public sphere, where decisions surrounding their
lives are being made.
➢ Improving women´s employment in non-
traditional careers.
One of the sectors that less employs women is that
related to infrastructure because of gender
stereotypes associated to labor division. The latest
ILO report states “that detailed and accurate
statistics on the employment of women in the
transport sector are hard to come by. In the year
2016 the EU-27 reported just 21% of the labor force
in transport services, of which no distinction is made
in terms of what percentage corresponds to
supervising positions.”17 In the case of rural women,
they are rarely included in the job force when a
community road is being designed and implemented
because of gender stereotypes. Young and non-
skilled women are restricted to employment in
domestic work, teaching, commerce and
independent work, which in turn leaves them with
limited choices for decent employment (wages,
social security, etc.) According to an IADB study, 15%
of women are employed by the construction
sector18. For the Latin American and Caribbean
Region, a CEPAL study (2015) found that women in
non-traditional careers only account for 3% of the
labor force. In this sense, without looking into
cultural perceptions and employment policies from
the private sector, the SDG goals set to reduce
poverty levels in developing countries cannot be
achieved. On the other hand, international
development cooperation agencies have piloted
several initiatives throughout the world to test
several gender strategies to change this paradigm.
Box 1. Gender Pilot Project: Labor Inclusion of
Women in Non-Traditional Careers for the
Construction and Maintenance of Community
Roads -Paraguay (2015-present)
This is the first time in the history of Paraguay that the state requires construction businesses to implement a gender strategy to be considered and selected during the bidding process, assigning resources and quotas for training women in non-traditional female careers, to promote their future labor inclusion.
Key Indicators of Success:
-62% of the women that completed the internship program had job offers. For many of the companies, it was the first time they contracted a woman for
17
ILO, Women in the Transport Sector: Policy Brief, 2013. 18
Idem 11.
these positions. 100% of the job offers were non-traditional female careers in the road construction area. The gender strategy focused on rural communities from the three poorest departments, targeting women from all ages, background and experience. After a participatory consulting and design phase with the Ministry of Works, civil engineers, gender experts, business leaders, and international cooperation agencies, a gender strategy was published and Implemented during the years 2016-2018 (1st Phase). This strategy included some of the following key elements: -The gender strategy requirements were mandatory for construction businesses. -The training was focused on careers that rarely women have been participating and of high pay: heavy machinery, topography, soil laboratory, etc. -Selected companies were required to contract a social/gender expert. -Wide dissemination of the courses for women in men in close collaboration with municipalities, youth groups, secretariat of women and other key actors. - Requirements for companies to adjust their main offices for the inclusion of women (separate bathrooms and lodging areas when necessary, etc.) -Trainings in sensitizing personnel from diverse levels on the importance of diversity in the workplace and gender sensitive policies (manual). -Strategic Alliance between (SNPP-State Service) and businesses for the training component: Mobile training units with high tech simulators . -Technical and practical certified trainings with at least 40 hours, with an established quota for women. -Five months part time paid internships for women that completed the courses and were selected for their level of skills. - Monitoring strategy in the field, with gender sensitive indicators. Source: IADB/MOPC Manual and Monitoring Report, 2018. Photo Credit: Marisol Zubizarreta
The main strategies identified are:
-Assure the participatory inclusion of rural women in
all stages of planning, execution, and maintenance of
transport and community roads, improving its
probability of sustainability and use by all groups.
-Introduce in worldwide and national surveys the
“mobility of care” category for questions and
analysis to design adequate transport services
adjusting to both women and men patterns.
- Promote women´s training and employment in
non-traditional careers within the construction
sector for community roads, removing barriers for
their participation. (Gender Strategy)
- Incorporate innovative techniques on the type of
technology for the construction and maintenance of
roads can make them resilient to floods and other
natural disasters, in close consultation and
partnering with women and community groups.
Box 2. Gender Focus-Sunamganj Community Based
Resource Management Project
It´s a model project for the community management
of resources in a district of Sunamganj in
Bangladesh. IFAD applied an innovative approach for
the construction and maintenance of community
roads, utilizing concrete blocks (resistant to floods
and are less costly than asphalt roads), in close
collaboration with local contracting companies and
community groups. Since the production for the
blocks was done in the villages, women were able to
balance their domestic work with paid jobs for the
manufacturing process. Also, the poorest women
were selected for the routine maintenance of the
roads and also the environmental component
(planting and watering of trees). The project
provided another type of employment (non-
agricultural), while improving mobility and exchange
between 125 villagers, especially women. With this
project, school attendance also increased between
40-80%.
Source: IFAD Community Project-Bangladesh
https://www.ifad.org/web/operations/project/id/11
65/country/bangladesh
Gender, water and sanitation
Around the world, women play a critical role as
natural resource managers –often tilling land and
conserving biodiversity while managing household
food and energy needs. This close relationship with
the environment also means that women suffer
disproportionate burdens from environmental
impacts and degradation, due to the fact that in
most societies, women and girls are primarily
responsible for the majority of unpaid care work like
water collection. In most societies, women have
primary responsibility for management of household
water supply, sanitation and health. Water is
necessary not only for drinking, but also for food
production and preparation, care of domestic
animals, personal hygiene, care of the sick, cleaning,
washing and waste disposal.
Presence or absence of a safe and sufficient water
supply and improved sanitation facilities has a
disproportionate effect on the lives of women and
girls for three main reasons. First, women and girls
usually bear the responsibility for collecting water,
which is often very time-consuming and arduous. In
developing countries, women spend at least 30
minutes per round trip, several times a day, walking
to collect safe water. This represents lost
opportunities for women’s employment, education,
leisure, or sleep.19 Second, women and girls are
more vulnerable to abuse and attack while walking
to and using a toilet or open defecation site. And
third, women have specific hygiene needs during
menstruation, pregnancy and child rearing.
Source: United Nations Statistics Division based on data prepared by WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, Data on distribution of households by sex and age group of person responsible for water collection, correspondence in September 2014 (2014b). Note: Unweighted averages. The number in parentheses indicates the number of countries averaged. Data presented by Millennium Development Goal (MDG) regions.
Regarding safe, hygienic and private sanitation
facilities, the inadequate access to them is a source
of shame, physical discomfort and insecurity for
millions of women across the world20. Where women
need to go out in the open for their toilet needs,
they face increased risk of harassment and assault.
They may be more prone to urinary tract and vaginal
infections. Lack of appropriate toilet facilities can
affect women’s participation in education and
19
Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene:
2017 Update and SDG Baselines. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2017. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. 20
Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management.
Resource Guide 2006. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Gender and Water Alliance (GWA).
employment. Lack of appropriate toilet facilities and
adequate water are among the reasons why post-
pubescent girls drop out of school and women miss
days from work21.
Current SDGs on access to safe water and sanitation
are far more ambitious than the previous MDG
target 7c, which aimed to halve the proportion of the
population without access to water and sanitation by
2015. SDG targets 6.1 and 6.2 now call for universal
and equitable access for all, aiming to eliminate
inequalities; they include hygiene, not previously
addressed in the MDGs, and they specify drinking
water should be safe and affordable, and sanitation
adequate.
Water can also be a risk when it is unexpectedly
abundant or scarce, such as during floods or
droughts. Rainfall variability can have different
gendered outcomes related to employment, wages,
health, schooling, marriage, migration, violence, and
other unexpected channels, because they trigger a
range of household-level coping strategies. In all
cases, women have a key role in installing and
executing those strategies. This role has been
recognized by the UNFCCC by creating a gender
action plan for strengthening a gender-responsive
climate policy concerning adaptation, mitigation and
related means of implementation (finance,
technology development and transfer, and capacity-
building) as well as decision-making on the
implementation of climate policies22.
Even when women have accumulated considerable
knowledge about water resources, including
location, quality and storage methods, efforts
towards improving the management of the world’s
finite water resources and extending access to safe
water and sanitation, often overlook their central
role in water management. Fostering gender
equality and women’s empowerment –particularly
when it comes to ensuring that women and men
have equal opportunities in accessing, benefiting
from and participating in decision-making– are
essential for effective water management and
sustainable development. Although women and
girls play key roles in obtaining and managing water
globally, they are rarely offered roles in water
21
Das, Maitreyi Bordia 2017. “The Rising Tide: A New Look
at Water and Gender.” World Bank, Washington, DC. 22
Gender Action Plan, FCCC/CP/2017/11/Add.1, United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Figure 1: Distribution of households by person usually responsible for water collection, by region and by urban and
rural areas, 2005-2013
improvement programs or on local water
committees. Women should not only have access to
the resource but also to decision-making processes
in relation with the management of the resource.
Box 3. Gender and Water Resource Management
Source: Gender and Water Data - Project for gender sensitive water
monitoring, assessment and reporting
www.tinyurl.com/wwapgender
Addressing women´s needs in relation to water,
sanitation and hygiene is, then, a key driver in
achieving gender equity and locking the potential of
half of global society. Gender equality and women’s
empowerment –ensuring that women and men have
equal opportunities in accessing, benefiting from and
participating in resources’ related decision-making–
are essential for conservation and resilience-building
efforts, and contribute with valuable perspectives.
Main strategies identified are:
It is of upmost importance ensuring that water
programs recognize women as agents of change;
value the diverse knowledge, experiences and
capacities of women and men alike; and work to
bridge gender gaps. To achieve this, some key
strategies are listed below23:
- Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to
economic resources, including ownership and
control over natural resources including water, both
for domestic and productive uses; and their
effective participation and equal opportunities for
leadership at all levels of decision-making around
resources management;
- Build capacity and ensure vocational training for
women in all aspects of water management and
decision-making;
23
Fauconnier, I., Jenniskens, A., Perry, P., Fanaian, S., Sen,
S., Sinha, V., Witmer, L. (2018). Women as change-makers in the governance of shared waters. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, viii + 50pp.
- Enable and support women’s networks to build
institutional capacity, disseminate knowledge and
give peer-to-peer support around water resources
management and decision-making;
- Create job opportunities for women in national and
transboundary river basin authorities, local water
management entities and water-related businesses;
- Generate innovative informal dialogue spaces in
which women can contribute their ideas for
improved joint management of shared waters.
Box 4. The importance of women’s participation to
trigger behavioral change: Marguerite Guilovagui’s
story.
Marguerite Guilovagui is the head of the Women’s
Network of the Mano River for Peace as well as a
member of both the National Water Management
Platform of the Mano River and Champions of the
Water of the Transboundary Basin of the Mano.
Marguerite has established herself as an influential
negotiator in Guinea. Marguerite is also heavily
focused on village water management and
awareness-raising activities around water use,
sanitation and hygiene. She has been vocal in
supporting the rational use of water in homes, and
proper sanitation, including by composing songs and
skits to help educate the village population on these
subjects. Marguerite focuses on social
empowerment actions for women in relation to
water resources. Women in her village are
overwhelmed by daily tasks and water is often not
within their reach for domestic needs. Marguerite,
through women’s groups, initiated the system of
daily contributions by women for drilling of
boreholes to establish water points. The water is
provided for a fee paid by individuals. Initially, the
women were reluctant to make the individual
contributions for drilling and water, but after
awareness sessions conducted by Marguerite, the
project is on track. The boreholes and water points
now constitute the main source of drinking water for
villages like Marguerite’s. These water points have
reduced the incidence of water borne diseases and
made water more readily available in the village. The
fees paid for the water are used to provide for the
maintenance and repair of the water points.
Source: Sandrine Sankara Bassonon, IUCN BRIDGE 2018.
Photo Credit: Marguerite Guilovagui attending a
workshop in Monrovia in November 2016 ©IUCN /
Sandrine Bassonon
Sustainable Energy and Gender Equality
Universal access to reliable energy is key to
improving the health and well-being of
people around the world. It strengthens livelihoods
and bolsters local economies. Energy is especially
critical to improving health, safety, productivity,
education, and income-generation opportunities for
women and girls, who are disproportionately
impacted by lack of access, as they are often
primarily responsible for collecting fuel at the
community level.
Source: United Nations Statistics Division from Fontana and Natali, Gendered Patterns of Time Use in Tanzania: Public Investment in Infrastructure Can Help (2008); Ghana Statistical Service, How Ghanaian Women and Men Spend their Time. Ghana Time Use Survey 2009 (2012); Government of Pakistan, Federal Bureau of Statistics, Time Use Survey 2007 (2009); National Statistical Centre of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Social and Economic Indicators. Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey 2002/03 (2004) Statistics South Africa, A Survey on Time Use 2010 (2013); and World Bank, Gender, Time Use and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (2006).
Note: Average time burden in the population is calculated by taking into account, in the denominator, those involved and not involved in firewood collection. Data may not be comparable across countries since data collection methods may vary.
When women and girls do not have access to the
benefits that reliable and affordable electricity
provide, unpaid work becomes more laborious and
time intensive, not allowing for the pursuit of
education, income-generation, civic involvement, or
leisure opportunities, and causing time poverty, a
critical driver of gender inequality. Women and
children, mainly girls, spend from 2 to 20 hours a
week collecting and carrying heavy leads of
fuelwood and other biomass fuels, and are a target
for sexual violence. And also, at the global level, four
million deaths every year are attributable to
household air pollution, affecting mainly women and
children. 24
➢ The role of women in sustainable energy
When women have equal access to energy,
significant productivity gains are unlocked,
strengthening social and economic outcomes. By
improving gender equality and women’s
empowerment in energy policies, regulations,
financing, and institutions, the achievement of
development outcomes are significantly
strengthened and productivity can be increased.
Women are a key part of the value chain across the
entire energy sector, from producing and distributing
household energy to employment in the large-scale
electrification workforce. They are not just users,
they are providers and decision-makers.
A research conducted by USAID and IUCN in 2017 on
the status of women and relevance of gender issues
across the environmental sector revealed than less
than a third of 192 studying national energy
frameworks analyzed from 137 countries identified
issues that have gender dimensions –i.e. noted that
women suffer from energy poverty
disproportionately– and/or included objectives and
strategies that have gender considerations.25
24
Gender Briefing Notes - Supporting active inclusion of
women in energy and development projects. ENERGIA / European Union Energy Initiative / Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF). Eschborn, May 2013 25
Prebble, M. and Rojas, A. (2017). Energizing Equality:
the importance of integrating gender equality principles in national energy policies and frameworks. Washington, USA: IUCN and USAID
Figure 2: Average time spent collecting firewood, by sex, selected developing countries
Women have more sustainable consumption
choices26 and, in their role of household energy
managers, tend to have a bigger say in household
energy decisions. Thus, from the standpoint of
consumption, the design, production, distribution
and sales of sustainable energy technologies (for
example, clean cooking stoves and lighting devices)
would benefit from having women contribute to
shaping the clean energy value chain.27
➢ Building resilience in their communities
Women are also disproportionately affected by
climate change and disasters because of the role
they play in providing for the energy needs of their
families and because they comprise a large number
of the poor communities that depend on natural
resources for their livelihood. Yet at the same time,
their strong ties to the environment and roles in
natural resource management make them powerful
agents of change with knowledge and skills for
building resilience to climate change and disaster.
They just need to be considered as stakeholders and
planners in successful action on climate change and
disaster resilience and have equal access to and
control of the resources they need to adapt to and
mitigate the effects of environmental changes.
The main strategies identified are:
- The Promotion of a long-term strategy to ensure
sustainable and affordable supply of clean cooking
energy fuels and technologies would not only
alleviate the daily household burdens of poor
women, but also reduce the health impacts of
household energy use by reducing women and girls’
exposure to harmful smoke from open fires.
- More effort is needed to involve women in the
design and production of locally appropriate energy
technologies. Infrastructure projects designed to
promote cleaner, more efficient forms of fossil fuels
and renewable energy can offer new skills training
and increased employment and entrepreneurship
26
Carlsson-Kanyama, A. and Linden, A.-L., ‘Energy
efficiency in residences – Challenges for women and men in the North’, Energy Policy 35, no. 4 (2007), pp. 2163–2172; Lee, E., Park, N.-K. and Han, J.-H., ‘Gender difference in environmental attitude and behaviors in adoption of energy efficient lighting at home’, Journal of Sustainable Development 6, no. 9 (2013), pp. 36–50 27
Shankar, A., ‘Strategically engaging women in clean
energy solutions for sustainable development and health,’ Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) Brief, 2015.
opportunities for women, as well as more equitable
benefit-sharing at the community level.28
- Mainstreaming gender in energy programs would
enhance the effectiveness of energy policies.
Incorporating gender perspectives into energy
projects, policy and planning is critical in ensuring
the effectiveness not just of energy programs and
policies, but of all development activities that involve
energy use.
- Provide technical and vocational training for
women to promote women’s employment, e.g., as
technicians, in routine operation and maintenance,
meter readers and as community mobilizers.
Box 5. One woman’s contribution to energy access
for all by selling clean cookstoves
Suku Maya Majhi is a women entrepreneur in
Sindhuli, Nepal. She joined the ENERGIA and Centre
for Rural Technology Nepal Women’s Economic
Empowerment project to learn how to build
improved cookstoves (ICS) in the houses in her
community. She had a critical role in scaling up clean
cooking facilities and raising awareness on the
effects of indoor air pollution. As entrepreneur, she
is contributing to deliver energy access to all and
engage women in the energy sector.
Now, she prepares the Nepali Dal Bath, with lentils
and steamed rice in her new kitchen, equipped with
an on-site built improved cookstove (ICS) which
replaced the old traditional stove. “Until a few years
ago, my house was smokey and the air
unbreathable. My eyes were always irritated and my
throat was hurting” confessed Suku, recalling the
moment she decided to give up with using firewood.
That changed when she joined ENERGIA and CRT-
Nepal’s Women’s Economic Empowerment – Nepal
project (WEE-Nepal) and learned about the multiple
health risks of indoor air pollution. She personally
experienced the positive impacts of cooking on an
ICS, and this approach helped her to develop even
more her potential as agent of change in the energy
sector. Thanks to her role as household energy
manager and energy entrepreneur, she is not only
raising awareness of the benefits of clean cookstoves
and fuels in her community, but she is in a unique
28
Habtezion, Senay. UNDP Gender and Sustainable Energy
Policy Brief. UNDP / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, 2016.
position to interact with other peers and deliver
energy products. Research indicated in fact, that
women entrepreneurs are strong partners to access
untapped female markets and reach “last mile”
households. Moreover, they usually reinvest back
into their communities, contributing to its
development.
Clean cookstoves can lead to a sustainable future, as
there are roughly 3 billion people worldwide, who
rely on simple stoves fueled by kerosene, biomass
and coal, like Suku Maya Majhi previously did.
Besides the hazardous consequences on the
community air quality, the lack of access to clean
cooking solutions exposes people to dangerous
indoor air pollutants, which cause non-
communicable diseases including stroke, ischaemic
heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) and lung cancer, according to the
World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO also
estimates that around 3.8 million people die
prematurely from illness attributable to the
household air pollution caused by the inefficient use
of solid fuels and kerosene for cooking.
Source: https://www.energia.org/how-suku-maya-
majhi-is-contributing-to-energy-access-for-all-by-
selling-clean-cookstoves/
Suku Maya Majhi and her ICS, Sindhuli district, Nepal. Photo Credit: Tjarda Muller/ENERGIA
Box 6. Female microenterprise creation and
business models for private sector distribution of
low-cost off-grid LED lighting
The core research question in this area was how to
overcome gender inequalities by bringing women to
the forefront in the establishment of village-level
enterprises that distribute and recharge LED lights
and mobile phones for off-grid rural households in
Rwanda?
Extreme poverty and global warming are two of the
most important challenges facing the world today.
Women and girls are often the worst victims. From
an early age, boys are prioritized over girls in
receiving an education. This puts women at a
disadvantage when it comes to accessing labor
opportunities. Through this study, the researchers
aimed to find out how these gendered inequalities
can be overcome by bringing women to the forefront
in the establishment of local village-level enterprises
that distribute LED lights to poor rural households.
The researchers hoped to identify broader spillovers
into the household ethos, including access to light
within the family and decision-making patterns as
they relate to gender.
The preliminary results of this project, the first to
rigorously evaluate the impact of a purpose-
designed subsidized model – one that provides
additional lights for women and children – on
gender, wellbeing and socioeconomic outcomes, showed that in Kenya, in an initiative on low-cost
solar-lanterns (using Greenlight Planet and d-light
products), gender randomization and the formation
of micro-enterprises happened rapidly and smoothly.
Expected barriers including traditional male
authority structures and the possibility women
would struggle to raise the pre-order commitment
fee ($10 each) failed to materialize. A total of 20
potential microenterprise groups were formed all
according to the randomly preassigned gender
composition, with 11 groups formally becoming
microenterprises and the remaining serving as the
comparison group. These groups were surveyed in a
baseline survey in order to answer the primary
research questions outlined above, and will be
surveyed again in the final survey in order to
determine the impact of the empowerment
program.
Source: https://www.energia.org/cm2/wp-
content/uploads/2016/07/RA5-Scoping-Report-
Website.pdf
Donatille Yankurije wearing the Nuru light on her head to demonstrate the different ways that the lamp can be used. (Photo: Francesco Ficcarelli)
Recommendations
I. Ensure social and economic infrastructure
investments and improvements - especially
transport, roads, water, electricity, energy,
connectivity, social services (health, education,
children and elderly care facilities) – that consider
the differential impact on rural women’s needs. This
should be done while ensuring that all infrastructure
works are free of sexual harassment and any other
kind of violence against women.
II. Promote linkages between the transport, roads,
water and sanitation, energy and social services
sectors to strategically incorporate the gender
perspective, with women´s empowerment and
leadership as key strategies throughout the diverse
stages of planning, development and maintenance of
infrastructure.
III. Establish a unified mechanism of monitoring and
evaluation of the diverse infrastructure projects that
incorporate a gender perspective by country and
region, to improve availability of information for
decision-making in this sector, with qualitative and
quantitative and sex-disaggregated data.
IV. Include within mobility surveys the “mobility of
care” category to capture a complexity of transport
needs and patters that both women and men have
for the design of public policy in this sector. This
takes into account the unpaid activities associated to
the management of the home and multiple tasks
associated to caring for family members, that differs
from traditional mobility surveys. Indicators should
measure geographic differences, diversity of women
(peasant, indigenous, afro-descendant, migrant,
women with disabilities, youth) because of diverse
socio-economic and cultural realities.
V. Establish strategies for the expansion of women´s
employment opportunities in the construction and
maintenance of community roads, with specific
gender plans and quotas for their technical training
in non-traditional careers, in close collaboration with
the state and private sector for sustainability of
actions.
VI. Increase in investment in quality, resilient
technology and materials for road construction
with women´s groups as active participants in terms
of design, construction and maintenance, utilizing
their know-how and skills for networking with
proper compensation for their time dedication.
VII. Establish diverse incentives (including financial)
to countries and communities that have a yearly
increase in infrastructure investment in rural areas
with a gender perspective, incorporating women at
the fore-front of decision making in ministries that
are in charge of Public Works, Environment, Energy,
Transport and Social Services.
VIII. Provide technical and financial support for
regional discussions on water and energy resource
management, where diverse voices of rural women
are present (campesino, indigenous, afro-
descendant, youth, etc.) for decision-making
surrounding this topic. This will in turn strengthen
women’s networks, disseminate knowledge and give
peer-to-peer support that can later be implemented
in their communities.
IX. Recognize and incorporate cultural and
environmental knowledge from indigenous women
and girls by establishing consulting mechanisms and
strategies for their active participation in
infrastructure projects that affect their communities
and livelihoods.
Appendix
Further Reading:
✓ Declaration of Santo Domingo, adopted by the Ministers and Senior Representatives of the National Machineries for the Advancement of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, at the Regional Consultation prior to the sixty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62), 6th-7th February 2018. http://lac.unwomen.org/en/noticias-y-eventos/articulos/2018/2/declaracion-de-santo-domingo
✓ UN Women. 2015. Progress of the World’s Women 2015–2016: Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights. NY: UN Women
✓ UN Women. 2017. Progress of Women in Latin-American and the Caribbean 2017. Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights. Panama: UN Women Americas and the Caribbean Regional Office.
✓ UN Women. 2017. Report of the Expert Group Meeting on the CSW 62 Priority Theme: Challenges and Opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls
✓ UN Women. 2018. Regional Consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls. Basic document for discussion
✓ UN. Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ✓ United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (2018). Report of the Commission on the Status of
Women Report on the sixty-second session (24 March 2017 and 12–23 March 2018). E/2018/27-E/CN.6/2018/20. http://undocs.org/en/E/CN.6/2018/20
✓ United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). 2017. Report of the Secretary-General on Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls. Commission on the Status of Women, 20 December 2017, E/CN.6/2018/3
✓ United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). 2011. Report of the Secretary-General on the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges, Commission on the Status of Women, 9 December 2011, E/CN.6/2012/3.
✓ Braeden, I., Martinez S., Vossenberg S. 2018. Mainstreaming Gender Equality to Improve Infrastructure Development Impact: PIDG Kit Final Report.
✓ World Bank. 2008. Action Plan for Sustainable Infrastructure. ✓ Essays, UK. (November 2013). Economic and Social Infrastructure. Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/economics/economic-and-social-infrastructure-economics-essay.php?vref=1.
✓ Asian Development Bank. 2017. Infrastructure can be a powerful driver for gender equality in Bangladesh.
✓ European Institute for Gender Equality. 2016. What does infrastructure have to do with gender equality?
✓ IFAD, ILO, FAO. 2010. Gender and Rural Employment-Orientation Document Number 5. ✓ Farías, A. (2018). Monitoring Report for the Gender Pilot Project in Paraguay: Ministry of Public Works in
/Department for Gender and Resettlement in Paraguay.
✓ IADB. 2015 The Relationship between Gender and Transport, Washington D.C. ✓ Interamerican Development Bank/Ministry of Public Works. 2018. Management Model Manual: Roads to
Equality: incorporating women into non-traditional careers in the construction sector-case study Paraguay
✓ Fauconnier, I., Jenniskens, A., Perry, P., Fanaian, S., Sen, S., Sinha, V., Witmer, L. (2018). Women as change-makers in the governance of shared waters. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, viii + 50pp.
✓ Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2017 Update and SDG Baselines. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2017.
✓ United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). 2015. The WWAP Water & Gender Toolkit for Sex-disaggregated Water Assessment, Monitoring and Reporting. Gender & Water Series. Paris, UNESCO
✓ Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management. Resource Guide. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Gender and Water Alliance (GWA), 2006
✓ Das, Maitreyi Bordia. 2017. “The Rising Tide: A New Look at Water and Gender.” World Bank, Washington, DC.
✓ Gender Action Plan, FCCC/CP/2017/11/Add.1, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
✓ United Nations, 2015. The World's Women 2015: Trends and Statistics. New York: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division. Sales No. E.15.XVII.8.
✓ Gender Briefing Notes - Supporting active inclusion of women in energy and development projects.
ENERGIA / European Union Energy Initiative / Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF). Eschborn, May 2013
✓ Prebble, M. and Rojas, A. (2017). Energizing Equality: the importance of integrating gender equality principles in national energy policies and frameworks. Washington, USA: IUCN and USAID.
✓ Carlsson-Kanyama, A. and Linden, A.-L., ‘Energy efficiency in residences – Challenges for women and men in the North’, Energy Policy 35, no. 4 (2007), pp. 2163–2172; Lee, E., Park, N.-K. and Han, J.-H., ‘Gender difference in environmental attitude and behaviors in adoption of energy efficient lighting at home’, Journal of Sustainable Development 6, no. 9 (2013), pp. 36–50
✓ Shankar, A., ‘Strategically engaging women in clean energy solutions for sustainable development and health,’ Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) Brief, 2015.
✓ Habtezion, Senay. UNDP Gender and Sustainable Energy Policy Brief. UNDP / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, 2016.
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