Geneva—11-13 February—Last week the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the IISD Energy programme helped launch a new gender and energy initiative organised by ENERGIA and funded by UKDFID in Geneva at the IISD offices with 30 consortium participants. 

The IISD programme will focus on energy empowerment, energy sector reform and impacts for gender. The four year programme will examine gender perspectives in the following five work streams running across a number of energy themes: 

1. Energy sector reform, led by the GSI of International Institute for Sustainable Development
2. Electrification through grid and decentralised systems, led by the University of Oslo
3. Productive uses of energy, led by the University of Twente
4. The political economy of energy sector dynamics, led by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
5. Role of the private sector in scaling up energy access, led by the EPRU South Africa

The GSI will look at the impact and opportunities from energy sector reform and gender in Bangladesh, India and Nigeria with existing and new partners: Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Integrated Action and Research for Development (IRADe) and Spaces for Change. 

The challenges for each country are significant with substantial energy sector reforms that have been implemented (India), attempted (Nigeria) and planned (Bangladesh). The impact and opportunities for women and girls, particularly around energy empowerment from energy sector reform is potentially important, in lighting, cooking, transport fuels and across the electricity sector. The opportunity costs from current subsidies are considerable. Removing subsidies unlocks potential savings that could be invested and directly at energy empowerment activities that benefit women and children directly. 

Recent research from the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of IISD has looked at energy and gender in the context of energy sector reform. GSI fieldwork and research in India has found that with the process of transferring energy subsidies to cash transfers occurs there can be gender implications. For example, when the Indian government announced direct cash transfers for LPG subsidies, some rural women viewed the cash transfers deposited in their bank accounts as savings. But other women who did not have access to bank accounts could not access the subsidy. Financial inclusion for women is key to shifting energy subsidies to a more targeted, cash based welfare system. 

The GSI has also supported partner IRADe, in research that investigates those choices made by women in urban areas between fuels e.g. between LPG and Kerosene for cooking. The research found when subsidies switched and given directly to women to help them transition from kerosene to LPG this can then save women 2 hours every week.  

GSI research looking at gender and power in India finds that fossil-fuel subsidies are huge (13.7% of India’s budget expenditure in 2012-2013, or 2.3% of GDP), almost double that of public expenditure on health (1.3%) and challenges that of government spend on education (3.2%) these subsidies have historically provided little benefit for rural women. Two thirds of India’s population still use firewood or dung-cake for cooking and a quarter of the population live without access to electricity. Benefits from fossil-fuel subsidies rather go to higher income groups that consume greater amounts of fuel. In rural areas in India subsidies to fossil-fuels have not worked and are not well targeted at women or the poor. 

This new research area led by GSI and supported by ENERGIA will aim to bring out more information on the gender implications of energy sector reforms undertaken in Bangladesh, India and Nigeria. The research is aimed at working with policy makers to consider the gender implications of energy sector reform and invest energy empowerment through infrastructure or cash transfers to women directly, before announcing and during the implementation of energy sector reforms. The research from the programme will be available in papers published by IISD, the consortium members and in peer-reviewed journals over the next four years.

For more information about the research please contact lmerrill@iisd.org