An estimated 2.4 billion people currently lack access to clean cooking fuels, with the majority relying on biomass (firewood, charcoal, dung) to meet household cooking needs.[1] This is only a slight decrease from 2017, when 2.5 billion people lacked access to clean cooking fuels.[2] Of those who continue to lack this access, the majority—923 million—live in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by 490 million in India.[3] While India decreased its population without access by about 30 percent from 2010 to 2020, Africa has seen an increase of more than 50 percent over the same period, driven by a rising number of poor, tepid government policies to address this issue, and overarching poverty challenges.[4] These figures are likely to remain persistently high at about 2.2 billion over the next decade, roughly split between India and other parts of developing Asia on the one hand, and sub-Saharan Africa on the other.[5]

Hidden behind these figures are the people who produce the biomass that powers most of this energy use: often it’s women and girls who are tasked with this labor. In this article, the authors discuss why it’s important to see these women and girls—potentially the largest segment of the energy labor force today and in the foreseeable future—as producers and workers. In understanding them as a formidable workforce of biomass producers, their knowledge and experience can inform ongoing efforts of electrification, clean cooking alternatives, gender rights, and overall poverty alleviation. It is also equally important to recognize this workforce in order to improve its working conditions on the path to building a more inclusive energy workforce toward net zero emissions.

While the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #7 (SDG 7)[6] draws attention to the need to eliminate the use of non-clean cooking techniques that kill millions each year, the working conditions under which women toil today to produce biomass also merits greater attention. As the World Bank reported recently, “across most of Sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of China, women are the primary fuel wood collectors,”[7] which is also the case in areas of South Asia.[8] This is time-consuming and physically demanding work that can involve “collecting and carrying loads of wood that weigh as much as 25-50 kilogrammes”[9] and can “take up to 20 or more hours per week.”[10] 

Estimating the Size of this Workforce

Just how many women are working in this area? A preliminary estimate—based on data regarding the number of households relying on biomass for cooking and the rate of participation of women in this labor—puts the number at over 300 million.[11] Overall, while there is reliable data on lack of access to clean cooking,[12] reliance on biomass,[13] and deforestation trends,[14] there is a gap in knowledge about the (wo)man power it takes to produce biomass.

This gap may stem from the way issues around biomass are often discussed in the SDG 7 context. For example, data on the lack of access to clean cooking primarily informs solutions to shift cooking norms and electrification pathways and efforts to obviate the need for women to labor in producing biomass, while data on biomass reliance feeds into conservation and land use efforts. Such efforts, however, tend to overlook women as an energy workforce, even though across sub-Saharan Africa, India, parts of China,[15] and Latin America, women and young girls collect and make the biomass necessary to power their homes, including for heating.

Organizations focused on gender parity, such as SEforAll, come closer to recognizing the work of these women and girls, but they, too, frame their efforts in line with clean cooking initiatives rather than labor conditions or rights. For instance, research on the number of hours spent collecting firewood and preparing meals is used to discuss cultural and gender roles that lead to systemic disadvantages for women and girls.[16] A missing link in all of these narratives and frameworks is understanding the size and importance of this workforce and how it might inform different strategies.

Embracing a Worker-Producer Narrative

Calculating the number of women and girls in their capacity as biomass producers reframes the perception of them as passive consumers (i.e., cooks) to active self-producers of the household energy sector. This framework can bolster efforts mentioned above in the following ways:

First, it reframes biomass—from an issue singularly belonging to the clean cooking initiative— and places it more broadly in the context of workers’ rights. Despite numerous clean cooking campaigns,[17] poor women and girls will continue to produce biomass for their families for the foreseeable future. As important as it is to make access to clean cooking technologies universally available, what can be done for those producing their own energy in the meantime? For example, these could be solutions such as creating wood stalls in more accessible areas to reduce collection times, or developing more ergonomic harnesses for carrying the wood to reduce the physical burden of the work. In addition, can more income-generating opportunities be created to help reduce the poverty of these women and girls?

Second, it informs policies around building an inclusive energy workforce. Recognizing that there is already a female-run and -operated energy workforce across the developing world has implications for workforce policies governing the energy transition. For example, when it comes to the ability to tap into this existing labor force, does reskilling apply to this workforce as it does to coal miners? Moreover, by focusing on improving the labor conditions of women and girl biomass producers, this framework intersects with SDG 5: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girl. Organizations such as the Clean Cooking Alliance that aim to “increase the role of women in the clean cooking sector”[18] and collect data on the number of hours required for biomass production could benefit from such a framework.

Third, research that intentionally includes groups underserved and underrepresented in data can inform policies for a just energy transition. Capturing the number of women and girls producing biomass can lead to important discoveries for improving their lives while informing the energy transition. For instance, surveys and fieldwork to collect the amount of biomass producers could also be used to track energy consumption and production trends that inform electrification efforts. Many biomass collectors live on the margins or in rural areas, and research geared toward their energy needs can inform, for example, decentralized renewable energy projects[19] and help anticipate their consumption patterns.

This energy workforce comprises some of the poorest people in the world—women, girls, and people of color—and that may partly explain why their labor and working conditions have received relatively less attention. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report[20] and other research puts the world on a tight timeline for lowering emissions. Existing frameworks for achieving a clean energy transition can be strengthened through approaches that recognize and acknowledge the agency of biomass energy producers made up of millions of women and girls.

Notes

[1] World Health Organization, “WHO Publishes New Global Data on the Use of Clean and Polluting Fuels for Cooking by Fuel Type,” press release, January 20, 2022, https://www.who.int/news/item/20-01-2022-who-publishes-new-global-data-on-the-use-of-clean-and-polluting-fuels-for-cooking-by-fuel-type.

[2] International Energy Agency, “WEO-2017 Special Report: Energy Access Outlook – Analysis,” October 2017, https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-access-outlook-2017.

[3] International Energy Agency, “Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report,” June 2022, https://www.iea.org/reports/tracking-sdg7-the-energy-progress-report-2022.

[4] Philippe Benoit and Jully Merino, “The Invisible Women in Energy: Biomass Producers Who Deserve More Recognition,” Inter Press Service, April 8, 2021, https://www.ipsnews.net/2021/04/invisible-women-energy-biomass-producers-deserve-recognition/.

[5] IEA, “Tracking SDG7,” https://www.iea.org/reports/tracking-sdg7-the-energy-progress-report-2022.

[6] United Nationals Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “Goal 7,” accessed June 29, 2023, https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7.

[7] ESMAP et. al, “The State of Access to Modern Cooking Energy Services,” World Bank, 2020, at p. 21.

[8] Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, “Gender and Livelihoods Impacts of Clean Cookstoves in South Asia,” 2014, https://www.cleancookingalliance.org/binary-data/RESOURCE/file/000/000/363-1.pdf.

[9] International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2019, https://www.iea.org/reports/africa-energy-outlook-2019, p.  37.

[10] Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, “Gender and Livelihoods Impacts of Clean Cookstoves in South Asia,” https://cleancooking.org/binary-data/RESOURCE/file/000/000/363-1.pdf.

[11] Philippe Benoit, “Women Are the Forgotten Energy Providers in the Climate Conversation,” World Economic Forum, January 13, 2022, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/women-biofuel-climate/.

[12] IEA, “Tracking SDG7,” https://www.iea.org/reports/tracking-sdg7-the-energy-progress-report-2022.

[13] WHO, “WHO Publishes New Global Data on the Use of Clean and Polluting Fuels for Cooking by Fuel Type,” https://www.who.int/news/item/20-01-2022-who-publishes-new-global-data-on-the-use-of-clean-and-polluting-fuels-for-cooking-by-fuel-type.

[14] Global Forest Watch, “Global Deforestation Rates & Statistics by Country,” accessed June 29, 2023, https://www.globalforestwatch.org/.

[15] Ziming Liu, Jia Li, Jens Rommel, and Shuyi Feng, “Health Impacts of Cooking Fuel Choice in Rural China,” Energy Economics 89 (June 2020): 104811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104811.

[16] Clean Cooking Alliance, “Gender and Clean Cooking Factsheet,” March 29, 2021, https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/gender-factsheet/.

[17] Energydata.info, “Initiative – Clean Cooking,” accessed June 29, 2023, https://energydata.info/cooking/initiativesandplayersdatabase/initiatives.

[18] Clean Cooking Alliance, “Gender and Clean Cooking Factsheet,” https://cleancooking.org/reports-and-tools/gender-factsheet/.

[19] Andrea Willige, “Decentralized Renewable Energy Could Meet Africa’s Vast Needs and Make an Important Leap In Decarbonization,” Forbes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Brand Voice, September 27, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/mitsubishiheavyindustries/2021/09/27/decentralized-renewable-energy-could-meet-africas-vast-needs-and-make-an-important-leap-in-decarbonization/.

[20] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023,” Accessed June 29, 2023, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/.

Women in developing countries have a distinct role in leading a global energy transition, one that improves access, while promoting social and environmental goals. In fact, some of the most daunting aspects of energy poverty disproportionately affect women, notably the 2.7 billion people who still lack access to clean cooking – a function that continues to be dominated by women. In response to this challenge, development organizations have focused their efforts on reaching women, promoting their role in leading the energy transition, and increasing their own diversity and number of women staff and managers. But success both in terms of impact on the ground and within institutions has been mixed.    CGEP’s Energy for Development and Women in Energy programs are co-hosting a panel discussion on the perspective of women practitioners in this area. The event will draw on the experience of women across different types of institutions (development banks, academia, and the private sector advisory world) and across countries. Adjunct Senior Research Scholar Philippe Benoit, who leads CGEP’s energy for development work, will moderate the panel.  The panel will include the following experts:   Janina Franco, Senior Energy Specialist, Latin America Region, World Bank Eugenia McGill, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of International and Public Affairs and the Interim Director of the Economic and Political Development Concentration at SIPA Waafas Ofosu-Amaah, retired Senior Gender Specialist, World Bank Julia Rohrer, Project Manager, Dalberg Advisors Philippe Benoit, Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, CGEP — Registration is required for in-person attendance. The event will also be live-streamed at: http://energypolicy.columbia.edu/livestream. This event is open to press. Media attending the event should register using the registration link above. Media inquiries or requests for interviews should be directed to Artealia Gilliard (ag4144@sipa.columbia.edu). For more information contact: energypolicy@columbia.edu.

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 8 2021 (IPS) – As the world looks to address issues of gender equity, development and climate change, the importance of increasing the participation of women in the energy sector is gaining attention. To date, this topic has generally been framed around the underrepresentation of women in the energy workforce.

But this ignores an important reality: millions of women already participate as producers of energy – specifically of bioenergy for poor households.  To support sustainable development and gender goals, more attention needs to be given to these women energy producers who have remained largely invisible in much of the energy discourse.

Women account for only 22% of the jobs in the oil and gas industry and only 32% in the renewables sector.  When it comes to managerial and other decision-making positions, the share of women is even lower; for example, their representation in energy company boardrooms is less than 5%.

In response, several programs have been launched to increase women’s participation in the energy sector. These programs are succeeding in raising awareness about the need for more women in the sector, building networks to support women practitioners, and giving visibility to the women already working in energy – albeit with a focus on the formal, professionalized segments that constitute the energy industry.

But this focus on addressing underrepresentation in the formal segments of the sector – a very important effort — can generate the misperception that women are in fact not active in producing the world’s energy. Many assume their role is largely limited to consuming energy (e.g., at home, at work, or for leisure), not supplying it.  And therein lies an overlooked reality: millions of women worldwide are producers of biomass, a form of bioenergy.

About 2.5 billion people globally rely for cooking on the traditional use of solid biomass, notably fuelwood, charcoal and dung.  This figure includes 680 million people in India and 800 million throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

Biomass is also used by the poor for other purposes, such as heating homes in colder regions.  In many lower-income countries, biomass can constitute over 90 percent of the energy that poor households use.  It is provided through small-scale commercial ventures, but much is also generated by households for their own use.

Around the developing world, women play a central role in producing this bioenergy, notably by gathering wood and making charcoal. In fact, this is a segment of the energy sector where women are often overrepresented.

As the World Bank reported last year, “across most of Sub-Saharan Arica and in parts of China, women are the primary fuel wood collectors,” which is also the case in areas of South Asia. This is time-consuming and physically demanding work that can involve “collecting and carrying loads of wood that weigh as much as 25-50 kilogrammes” and can “take up to 20 or more hours per week.”  Unfortunately, we lack hard data about the number of women engaged in this energy production.

Biomass has already been receiving attention in development circles because of the problems associated with its use in traditional cookstoves, such as negative health impacts on notably the women who cook and the burdens of collecting firewood.

To address this issue, the United Nations has adopted as one of its Sustainable Development Goals the replacement of traditional biomass use with clean cooking technologies. This targeting of biomass and its harmful impacts does not, however, negate the role its women producers play in the energy sector (just as the climate and environmental concerns surrounding coal do not erase the role of miners).

Several actions can help to make these women producers more visible in the energy discourse.

First, recognizing the role they play in energy supply can help to shift the notion and perception of dependency: women actively participate in the production, not just the use, of household energy.

Failing to understand women’s contribution to global energy production will continue to perpetuate the myth of women as mainly (dependent) energy users, which can hamper efforts to ensure their full participation in decision-making and leadership roles within all levels of society.

Second, there is a paucity of data regarding these women producers – a situation that reflects the lack of attention they receive and also contributes to their lack of visibility.

How many women work in producing biomass (generally as unpaid labor)? How many women will be affected by changes in biomass production systems?  What will they do in a changed world?  This type of information can help address their needs and to plan for their engagement in the energy transition.  We need more data.

Third, it is important to acknowledge and properly value this work in producing household bioenergy, and to report it in energy workforce statistics. When a company produces electricity for its own use, it is called a “self-producer.”

When a woman produces biomass for use in her home, it all too often goes nameless.  The recognition of this women’s labor would also help in the effort to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls,” the UN’s fifth Sustainable Development Goal.

Fourth, in developing programs and initiatives to shift households from traditional biomass use to clean cooking technologies, it is important not only to consider the effect on women as consumers, but also address the impact on women as energy producers to ensure that their needs are being met.

Moreover, because these efforts to shift how households use biomass will also affect greenhouse gas emissions, the topic has entered the climate discourse. As world leaders discuss how to limit climate change at the upcoming summit convened by US President Biden or thereafter at the international COP negotiations, it is important to ensure that the situation of these women producers — their voices, concerns, and aspirations — are adequately taken into account when planning the clean energy transition (just as the concerns of coal miners and others are also considered).

Acknowledging the central role that millions of women play in producing the world’s bioenergy can lead to a greater empowerment of women across the sector.

As efforts to boost the participation of women in energy mature, it will be important to better recognize and analyze the contributions of these women producers, and to design policies that will help improve their standards of living, including as part of the clean energy transition.

India’s energy challenges are diverse and compounded by a growing global commitment to climate change, which has serious implications for India’s reliance on cheap coal to power its cities and villages alike. On this episode, host Jason Bordoff talks with Sunita Narain, Director General of the Center for Science and Environment, one of India’s leading environment NGOs based in Delhi, and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People for her work on climate change and the poor. They discuss: The role energy access and energy poverty play in India’s energy narrative; How to prevent fossil-fuel addiction among India’s citizens; The challenge of transitioning India off of cheap coal and the role of natural gas in the developing world; The need for smart fuel subsidies; Whether the Paris Agreement is a good deal for India and other developing nations.