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.