In a paper presented at the Asia Pacific Climate Week, the Asia Feminist Coalition stressed the need to actively redress the structural disparities in the patriarchal and extractive energy system during the transition to clean energy, pointing out that while women in developing countries have contributed the least to global emissions driving climate change, they are among the most affected by the climate crisis.
“Energy transition provides a critical opportunity for overcoming gender power structure. But it must involve a conscious effort to be gender transformative by overhauling the economic, social, political systems that drive gender inequality and systemic inequity as a whole,” said Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar, chair of Klima Action Malaysia.
For the coalition, a just energy transition in the region should facilitate the autonomy of communities through small-scale, locally owned, and gender representative energy systems. This is especially important for women who have been traditionally underrepresented in the energy sector, limiting the incorporation of their knowledge and needs.
Dzulfakar also pointed out that women must be up- and re-skilled to participate not only in the renewable energy sector, but also other transition pathways that are mostly dominated by men.
To achieve a just feminist transition, the Asia Feminist Network recommended building economies that reclaim the redistributive role of the state and moving away from extractivist models dependent on the hidden burdens of care and domestic work.
Despite women in Asia and the Pacific engaging over four times the amount of unpaid care work compared to men, with rural and migrant women devoting the most time to such tasks, their voices are rarely heard, especially when it comes to seemingly global complicated matters such as the transition to clean energy.
Given the complexity of the effort, which requires as much inclusivity as possible, every step of the way, from policy making, to planning, implementation, and beyond, giving the region’s and our communities’ women a voice can surely result benefit whatever programs and initiatives, not only when it comes to renewable energy, but everything else, that are being considered to better the future of this planet and its people.*
