Energy and gender in rural sustainable development

Jul 2006

FAO’s Committee on Agriculture has identified the great potential of bioenergy for supporting new rural infrastructure and employment opportunities, and has also recognized that an integrated multidisciplinary approach is needed for its new Bioenergy Programme to address the social and economic objectives set out in the Millennium Development Goals. A focus on gender issues is particularly important in this context since many of the world’s poorest people are women living in rural areas in developing countries who are currently dependent on subsistence agriculture to feed their families, and who are disproportionately affected by the lack of modern fuels and power sources for farming, household maintenance and productive enterprises.
This paper discusses some gender issues and energy linkages within the international sustainable development context and presents recommendations on ways of incorporating gender sensitivity into energy and development policies and planning processes. It is FAO’s hope that this will promote a wider understanding of the importance of recognising gender differences in decision-making on energy and rural development, and stimulate new attention to the challenges identified here.

By: Y. Lambrou, G. Piana (FAO)

 
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