Empowering women in Africa through access to sustainable energy
There are different factors at play leading to women and girls being disproportionately affected by energy poverty. Any intervention regarding universal energy access needs to take those factors into account. As was noted in the opening pages, the AfDB’s initiatives have traditionally concentrated on large-scale, capital-intensive technology projects designed to provide energy for growth in the formal sectors of the economy, including cash crops and mechanised production, which tend to be the domain of men. AfDB energy projects with gender dimensions show that some progress has been made and that it is possible to scale up and ensure that all future energy projects incorporate gender.