A gendered perspective on energy poverty and livelihoods - Advancing the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries

There is a growing need to advance access to energy services for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Globally, energy development largely underpins economic development and has differential impacts in developed and under-developed countries. At a micro-scale, the losers in the battle for access to energy resources are deemed to be the poor and within this category, women. This Article draws reciprocal synergies between energy production and use relationships, and the MDGs. It emphasises the importance of recognising the distinctly different situation of women and men in relation to energy consumption decisions, use arrangements and impacts. A gendered livelihoods framework presented in this Article draws largely from the work based on poverty, more specifically energy poverty and the resultant gender impacts which emphasise that issues related to income and ownership of resource assets (in this case, energy assets) is inadequate. This Article will thus argue that a more strategic focus should address the underlying structures that perpetuate poverty such as patriarchy, marginalisation, vulnerability, and exclusion from participation in decision-making processes. These are deemed as having a greater significance than mere quantifiable displays of poverty. The Article foregrounds that energy poverty has a distinctly female face and the attainment of the MDGs are unlikely to occur if both gender discrimination and energy poverty persist, although the MDGs were created to deal with inequitable practices and impacts. The Article advocates for efficient energy as well as developmental outcomes that are gender sensitive and that advance the needs of women in particular.