Gas does not equal development: Why public finance for fossil gas is not the solution for women in Asia and Africa

Energy poverty is prevalent in Asia and Africa. Of the 675 million people that were still without access to electricity in 2021, 75% live in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia.14 At the same time, communities in these regions are also the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.15 Women in Asia and Africa bear the disproportionate challenges of energy poverty and the impacts of climate change. Female-headed households, especially in rural areas, tend to have less access to modern energy than male-headed households.16 Gender roles imposed on women make them responsible for cooking, cleaning, fetching water, and small-scale agriculture, which could be made safer and less time-consuming with access to modern energy. Energy poverty contributes to hunger and negatively affects women’s health and education due to long hours spent on labour-intensive and often unpaid care work, including collecting fuel for cooking and heating homes.17 Energy and time poverty disadvantages women from accessing paid work outside their homes. It even excludes girls from getting an education as they tend to be withdrawn by their parents from school in times of energy scarcity to support their families’ energy needs.18 While women are mainly responsible for energyintensive tasks inside the household, they rarely make the energy-purchasing decisions in households.19 Even when a family’s access to energy has improved, it is men who decide on what types of appliances can be purchased, and these choices are often based on leisure and improving children’s education. However, these types of choices often do not help lessen the domestic drudgery experienced by women.