#IDWGS Essay - Breaking the Gender Barrier: Driving Woman’s Leadership in Community-based Initiatives to Achieve Just Energy Transition by Muhammad Ariel Pratama

Throughout history, humanity has managed to develop their quality of life, evident by the increase of population, industrial and economic growth. Among those developments, one pivotal sector has been highlighted in recent years due to its significance in enabling other technologies that would improve our economic and social growth, while making sure we could sustain our environment, which is the energy sector. Because of the ambitious industrial development era started in late 20th century that was driven by energy optimalization, the world had revolved in greenhouse gases (GHG) emission from power plants and vehicle operation, causing climate change to resulted in global warming and loss of biodiversity, among other things.

To address the urgent need for climate change mitigation, countries worldwide, both internationally and nationally, have entered agreement pacts to improve the climate condition. One of the most well-known is the Paris Agreement, which is signed by 195 countries, the Paris Agreement's long-term temperature goal is to keep the rise in average global temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5°C. Furthermore, international development cooperation, particularly between developed and developing countries, had been done to improve and adapt to climate change, recognizing the significance of global commitment.

Strategic actions in the energy sector, such as collaboration research, capacity development, financing mechanism, and infrastructure project regarding renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE), had been initiated by global stakeholders, aiming to eventually shift the fossil fuel-based energy, major contributor to GHG emissions, towards cleaner and more sustainable alternatives. Just Energy Transition refers to planning and implementation of energy transition from fossil fuels to RE, together with reducing inequality implications that might came with it, prioritizing economic, social, and gender justice. Gender barriers refer to obstacles that prevent equal participation and communication between different genders, manifesting as stereotype, discrimination, and gender bias.

In energy sector, it is undeniable that the role of woman is limited. For example, some heavy work in infrastructure projects, would require male as the primary candidate. This phenomenon could be easily observed in RE project development in rural area, which also in line with fossil-fuel-based activity, such as mining and oil rig. Commonly, those companies tend to prioritize male candidate due gender barrier, where male worker would be relatively more flexible, firm, and resilient in demanding site work. Unfortunately, those barriers also carried on RE deployment projects, where woman involvement, while some parties had more progressive approaches in hiring woman, are still limited. Even worse, RE and EE capacity development would then be indirectly aimed at male workers, due to their stance and stability in their working field. Ironically, this might be averted by some rural area that has a matriarchy system, where woman acted as the head of the family and are involved more in the village’s decision making.

In order to address these barriers in future RE and EE initiatives, it is crucial to prioritize the socialization and involvement of woman in the energy sector. This will ensure gender-balanced approaches for more complex RE and EE projects. Increasing people awareness, especially on how everyone could have a role in energy transition, would be a key action in encouraging a just resolution. More importantly, there are some roles that could be led by woman in the community, instead of their male counterpart.

First, woman often have strong social networking within their community, they could drive community engagement and relationship building, particularly in gaining trust and buy-in towards other community members, such RE projects implementation. These skills are highly valuable, especially in culturally diversed and marginalized communities, as they might not be too welcoming for something that they are not familiar with. Additionally, some RE initiatives like Solar PV rooftop installation, could had the woman who stayed at home responsible for its maintenance.

Second, most of them, while being housewives, acted as the frontliner for their children and youth development, with them emphasizing the importance of sustainability in their education. They could ensure future generation that have sustainability mindset in energy sector, either as regulator, researcher, and/or practitioners. Potentially, directing future policies and projects to be more sustainable. Moreover, they can help younger generation getting used to EE behaviour, increasing awareness for those future mindsets.

Third, their familiarity with household sector could provide them with unique perspectives for conversing fossil fuel-based household activity to clean one. For example, they could give insights into how kerosene or gas fuel cooking stove could be changed into electric one. Those insights could include implications, potentials, and challenges. This is important as household sector is relatively easier to have energy transition implemented due to its simplicity compared to other sectors, such as industry and transportation.

While those mentioned roles might not be infrastructure project based. They heavily emphasized on community empowerment, youth education, and in-depth insights that drive social justice and equity, benefiting not only women but also the community as a whole. To clarify, this article does not argue that woman’s role is more important than man in energy transition. Instead, they have the same responsibilities and there are some activities that could be done more appropriately by woman, same with some activities might be done more appropriately by man. While women can take on higher roles and responsibilities, leveraging informal roles can also help bridge the gender gap in energy transition initiatives. Without community-driven efforts to achieve just energy transition, while it had encompassing policy, technical, economic, and social factors, these initiatives may face challenges and even worse, rejection.

Therefore, ensuring woman’s right and involvement in climate change mitigation and adaption is paramount. This includes their participation in planning and managing energy transition activities, while considering their diverse skills and advocating inclusive energy transition narratives. A just approach that considers social, economic, and gender effect would result in thorough transition, ensuring just energy transition for all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I am a junior energy consultant focusing on renewable energy and energy efficiency upscaling activities. Currently, I work with various stakeholders to shift the narrative of energy transition, ensuring clean energy for all. Previously, I had worked as a research assistant at my home university at Indonesia, focusing on transportation engineering. My current career might not necessarily be aligned with my previous work and education background, but I still have one vision in mind, supporting my country (and hopefully other countries) to be more sustainable.