WOMEN AS AGENTS OF CHANGE IN CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION
Energy Future|January - March 2020
Globally, the energy sector continues to remain the most gender-imbalanced sector. Efforts towards planned engagement and inclusion of women throughout the energy sector are still lacking. In this article, Fawzia Tarannum talks about gender mainstreaming or participation of women in clean energy transition, which can propel social and economic transformation in their communities.
Fawzia Tarannum
WOMEN AS AGENTS OF CHANGE IN CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION

The effort to mainstream gender in decision-making, planning, advising, implementing, and managing environment and developmental activities dates back to the Rio Declaration in 1992. Principle 20 of the 1992 Rio Declaration states that “women have a vital role in environmental management and development and their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable development”. The need for education and training of women, involvement of women in power and decision-making, and including women in economic activities, among others, were further reinforced during the fourth World Conference on Women entitled ‘Action for Equality, Development and Peace’ held in 1995 in Beijing (United Nations, 1995). Women empowerment and gender equality were the goals in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and they also find a significant place in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Notwithstanding the efforts, there are crucial challenges in translating rhetoric into reality. The Global Gender Gap Report brought out in 2017 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) places India at the 108th position in the overall Global Gender Gap Index, with a poor 139th position in economic participation and opportunity, 112th position in educational attainment, and 141st position in health and survival out of 144 countries (WEF, 2017). According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data published by the NSSO in 2017–18, female labour force participation rate (LFPR) fell to a historic low of 23.3% from 31.2% in 2011–12 (MoSPI, 2019), indicating that three out of four women in India over the age of 15 are unemployed or not seeking work. Policies, norms, and institutions, which are needed to drive gender mainstreaming in workforce, are mostly gender blind, resulting in inequity in representation and absence of inclusiveness in the development processes.

This story is from the January - March 2020 edition of Energy Future.

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