Presentation to the South African Portfolio Committee on Energy Labour

1. Kulthoum Omari Bridging the gap: Incorporating gender concerns into energy policies and programmes in Southern Africa Presentation to the South African Portfolio Committee on Energy Labour Women, children and persons with disabilities 11 November 2011

2. Presentation outline • Gender and development • Energy and gender in Southern Africa • Gender mainstreaming into energy sector • Gender audits in energy sector • Key messages in engendering energy policies • Way forward- action

3. Gender and development • Governments - committed to the advancement of women since 1979 and to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). • The UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, Beijing Platform for Action 1995, the Millennium Development Goals of 2000, the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development of 1998, and more recently, the SADC Protocol on gender • Women in Development vs Gender and Development • Gender is considered a ‘cross cutting’ issue and one that requires special recognition in the context of achieving sustainable development

4. Definition of terms • Gender: a system of socially defined roles, privileges, attributes and relationships between women and men, which are not determined by biology, but by social, cultural, political and economic forces. “Gender” is not the same as “sex”. The latter is determined by biology, whereas the former is shaped by society • Gender inequality: biases against men or women determined by their gender, such that women’s and men’s participation in different social, political and economic sectors, and in development in general lead to unequal outcomes and benefits

5. Why Energy & Gender? • Women- responsible for provision of products, labour and services- family/household obligations • Women and girls spend long hours collecting fuel wood, agricultural residues and dung • Botswana; 15.2% MHHs, 7.7% FHHs connected to electricity in rural villages. • Women remain unrecognized in energy policy, planning and in the development of new energy technologies. • Women are compelled to use biomass based sources of energy because of lack of alternative cleaner, effective and affordable sources of energy • WHO estimates- indoor air pollution as major public health issue- pneumonia, chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer

6. Why gender and energy cont… • Long distances to fetch water- average 134minutes a day- lack fuel/electric operated pump for water • Females most affected by HIV/AIDS and bear the brunt of caring for the sick, • Little time, if at all, is left for women and girls to engage in more productive activities- income generating activities, agricultural production and education. • Women in southern Africa are defined as ‘energy poor’

7. Energy supply is recognised as being essential to economic stability and growth, jobs and improved living standards. • Female headed household- highest levels of poverty. In Botswana; 41% FHHs are below the poverty datum line compared to 34% MHHs. • Both income and poverty levels affect affordability of energy services, thus making provision of energy a gender issue • MDGs do not specifically target energy, but it is an underlying issue in achieving the MDGs • Poverty Reduction Strategies- paid little attention to energy, health, education and other social services- gender. • Gender responsive energy policies are major tools that are key to the achievement of sustainable development.

8. Why Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Programmes and Policies? • To improve quality of life, by reducing women’s drudgery in activities such as fuelwood collection and processing, water access, agricultural labour etc, and improving their health. • To increase women’s productivity and income, by providing them with the energy access needed to work more efficiently or for new opportunities for income generation. • To promote gender equality and to empower women, that is, to help them participate in activities and decision making which they have traditionally been excluded from, and to contribute strategically to the transformation of gender relations. • To ensure project efficiency and sustainability, because unless men’s and women’s needs are properly understood, project interventions may be wrongly targeted and thus fail.

9. Gender responsive energy policies • Major tools that are key to the achievement of sustainable development. • However, most of the energy policies are currently gender blind • Botswana- the energy policy had a main focus on electrification, which does not address the primary energy requirements for women • Southern Africa, there is more emphasis on providing electricity than any other energy sources. • Energy needs, which are linked to the social roles of women, receive less attention and funding than those energy services traditionally associated with men’s roles.

10. Gender mainstreaming • A process to realise gender awareness within an organization and/or its policies, programmes and projects. Gender mainstreaming is a strategy that can be undertaken through different methods, approaches and use of tools. • Gender audits: An approach for identifying gender related gaps and creating energy policies and programmes that are more gender responsive. • Accounting, financial, social, environmental and NOW gender audits • Technical, personal and institutional biases that prevent gender equality objectives being taken forward.

11. The key aspects in a gender audit of energy sector Availability of gender-related energy statistics; Gender organisational management and awareness, and mainstreaming in energy-related programmes; Gender perspectives in national Energy Policy; Resource mobilisation for gender and energy related policies and programmes; and The role of gender and energy in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

12. The Ugandan government chose to formulate a National Gender Policy as a tool for realising gender mainstreaming in their country • Install a gender machinery with sufficient resources and decision-making power. • However, a single structure for gender mainstreaming is not always preferable. • Gender Ministry could be sidelined or marginalized. • could too easily be seen as the only body, which needs to consider gender issues. • Gender is a crosscutting issue and every policy area has a gender angle. Therefore every ministry and governmental department should try to integrate gender into their policies.

13. SA’s- Lack of specific attention to gender issues in the energy policy- lack of empirical data of men and women on their energy use and demands. • Qualitative household studies with a central focus on gender were undertaken in both urban and rural contexts in South Africa during the early 1990s. • Studies confirmed that women are still primarily responsible for managing household energy budgets and the acquisition of fuel and food, • found that women are not the primary domestic decision makers with regard to energy, due to the relations of power and authority within the households. • Unequal gender relations still exist in South Africa. There are however, some developments towards gender-aware policies and a political commitment towards more gender equity.

14. Key messages in engendering energy policies and programmes- through gender audits • The Ministry of energy to be involved and committed to the process of GM. Advocacy at the ministry of energy and mobilising the gender machinery in the country to support the ministries of energy. • Understand the interlinkages between gender, energy and poverty must be understood from a sustainable development perspective- MDGs • Understand the role of women in the informal sector and their contribution to the local economy. The potential benefits arising from the use of modern energy technologies. • Recognise women’s role in the energy provision and use and their energy needs and demands- eg Botswana RE programme

15. Participation of women in the formulation of energy policies that reflects their energy demands. Participation of women in the design of energy efficient technologies Gender-disaggregated data on male and female energy use is also required. This can be used as a tool to enlarge the knowledge on women’s energy use and demand. Income (men and women) Energy supply/use Energy needs/demand Employment in energy sector (men and women) key messages cont….

16. Key messages Include a specific gender goal in the national energy policy. In Botswana, the objective: To facilitate gender equity was included in the draft energy policy Recognition of different energy needs of men and women Limited knowledge by energy organisations on the relationship of gender, energy & poverty No implementing strategy, women lacked participation A more balanced approach to energy services -takes women’s needs and traditional roles into account. In SA, increasing access to electricity will not alleviate cooking energy shortages as poor households do not use electricity for cooking Ensure that the different gender groups are specifically catered for through budgets and expenditure to cultivate, promote and support such policies and programmes at three levels: policy formulation, strategy and operations.

17. Key messages The alignment of the energy policy to relevant international and national goals and benchmarks on gender equality and the empowerment on women such as the Beijing Platform for Action. Development and implementation of the action plan of the action plan is where we are in e.g. in Botswana, BPC is engaging in a process to mainstream gender in the national rural electrification prog. In Kenya, gender is being included in the biofuel and rural electrification strategies.

18. Key messeges • Through women's affairs departments and other women's groups and to raise the question  as to how gender has been included in the energy policy. • Women's affairs departments mandate to support the ministry of energy to include gender in the energy policy. eg Ministry of gender in Nigeria has 2 tasks, 1. to support other Ministries to mainstream gender. 2. monitor how other ministries have been mainstreaming gender in their policies. - CEDAW • Lobby for a gender audit- ministry of energy. But also involve key stakeholders in the energy sector, e.g. utility, energy research organisations, women's affairs departments, etc. • Gender audits-not a legal requirement but should be one of the methods used to inform energy policy & strategies.