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Why gender is related to household energy?The basic energy requirements of rural households are mainly for cooking, lighting and space heating. Cooking needs are mainly met by traditional fuel in the rural areas. Apart from cooking, grain processing is the major area of energy, where women spend a considerable time and labor that involves exhaustive physical exercise.Energy needs at household level are directly related to women's workload and their time. For instance, women in rural mountain areas of Nepal often spend four to six hours for collecting a bunch of firewood and two to four hours in grain processing. In most of the developing countries, women are the ones involved in managing biomass fuels and food processing (like rice huskig, grinding grain, and so on) spending their own physical energy. Women as the primary users and beneficiaries of household energy have expertise in local biomass resources including their properties as fuels and fuel-saving techniques. For instance, women can differentiate between those fuelwood species which burn fast with high heat and those, which burn in slow speed with low heat and those which smoke(Kelkar, 1995). Women are also the ones most affected by the energy crisis (Batliwala and Reddy, 1996). For instance, the growing scarcity of firewood and other biomass resources add hours to a woman's workday. Despite knowing the above facts, the majority of energy planners rarely consult with women and see the problems from their perspectives. Assumptions are flatly made regarding any enery interventions and acceptance of technology is often taken as granted (Skutsch, 1995). Energy is often considered as highly technical, large-scale, and capital intensive which falls under the control of men, while the basic energy requirements mainly managed by women, either for subsistence or small-scale activities are ignored (Cecelski, 1995). Most policy makers view energy policies as gender neutral, despite knowing the fact that men and women are affected differently by such policies in the developing countries. For instance, an evaluation of biogas program in India showed that women are concerned with the smokelesness and convenience of biogas plants but the men placed higher value on the benefits of manure produced (Dutta, 1997). Similar cases were observed in Nepal. For instance, operation of biogas plants is women's work, while men select the land for installing the biogas plants. However, women's involvement in selectin of location is very important in order to ensure their efficiency in performing the tasks such as fetching water, carrying dung and so on. Any energy interventions in rural areas have a potential to reduce the women's drudgery in maanging household energy systems. For instance, biogas plants installed in rural villages of Kavre, Nepal have enabled to reduce women's work in collecting firewood and the micro-hydro mills have especially reduced women's labor in grain processing. Although women's saved time was not visible as they were occupied with some other household chores. Given the fact that women are direct users and benficiaries of household energy system, their roles, potentials, needs and priorities regarding the household energy should not be undermined while making any energy interventions. References: Batliwala, S. and Reddy, A.K. (1996) Energy for Women and Women for Energy: A Proposal for Women's Energy Entrepreneurship, ENERGIA News, Issue 1. Cecelski, E.(1995) From Rio to Beijing: Engendering the Energy Debate, Energy Policy, Vol. 23, (6) 561-575. Dutta, S.(1997) Role of Women in Rural Energy Programs: Issues, Problems and Opportunities, ENERGIA NEWS , Vol. 1 (4). Kelkar, G. (1995) Gender Analysis Tools, Wood Energy News, Vol. 10 (2) 5-6 Skutsch, M. (1995) Why Gender in Wood Energy Development? Wood Energy News, Vol. 10 (2) 3-4 Author: Ishara Mahat Categories: Gender | |
Page created:
01 September 2003; Last edited:
30 May 2007; Version: 9 | |
Pagename: HouseholdEnergyAndGender @HEDON: XCAA | |
