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ENERGIA News Issue 3, July 1997

News from the Editors

Planning Women into International Energy Meetings

How can we mainstream a gender perspective in sustainable development? Clearly this needs to be tackled at different levels with different strategies and approaches. One strategy to increase discussion and visibility of gender issues in mainstream energy policy circles is to plan women and gender into international energy meetings.
This method can provide credible fora for experts on gender and energy to present and publish findings, case studies and methodologies; raising and recognition of gender issues in technical areas under discussion and a context for women and men interested in both gender and energy to meet and form networks of researchers and practitioners.

Between 1995 and 1997, women energy experts organised themselves at a number of international energy conferences to express the need for a gender perspective in sustainable energy development. One such effort, at the World Renewable Energy Conference - IV in Denver in June 1996, was reported on in the first issue of ENERGIA News. Another, at the ISES Congress in Harare in 1995, resulted in the formation of an informal network, the adoption of a common statement of purpose and a feature on ‘Women and Energy’ in SunWorld. Most recently, the All India Women's Conference organised a workshop on the role of women in renewable energy development at the International Conference on Village Electrification Through Renewable Energy, 3-5 March 1997, in New Delhi (ENERGIA News #2).

Tremendous enthusiasm and commitment by the participants was evident, as women found support and inspiration for issues that many had been working on in relative isolation. Many men also participated in some sessions. Generally, the reaction of conference organisers to these and future planned initiatives has been positive and supportive.

There is still far to go, nonetheless. Complaints by women participants at some meetings include:

• few women participants and speakers;
• disappointment at the lack of sensitivity to gender and social issues generally in the main conference, despite recognition of their key role in dissemination of renewable energy;
• workshops on women, if at all, as separate “special sessions” rather than integrated into technical sessions;
• hijacking by male participants of women's issues and trivialising them; and
• intense interest by women participants in raising a gender perspective, but difficulty in realising concrete activities following the meeting.

How should we build on the positive reception and enthusiasm to integrating gender in international energy meetings, while responding creatively to the sense of marginalisation? What priority should we place on raising the profile of gender issues in international energy conferences? What would we like to see happen - and how can we facilitate this?

Starting in the middle, - what would we like to see happen - I think that the women who met in Harare, in Denver and in New Delhi might be gratified to find that future conferences include:

• calls for papers, schedule and aims of conferences publicising that gender issues will be included;
• more women on the conference programme;
• presentations on gender issues integrated into regular conference technical sessions;
• gender and sustainable development in the main conference programme;
• informal workshops of women and men interested in gender issues, on networking and needs; and
• gender issues integrated into the recommendations of the conference.

How do we make this happen? We need to develop a clear understanding of the processes behind the creation of these international conferences and become involved in these processes. At an immediate, practical level we need to be prepared to write and present good quality papers - and to give each other encouragement and support in this endeavour. To have a formative influence on conference programmes, we need to be involved at an organisational level in the planning of the events - this might involve responsibility for other headaches of conference management in addition to raising the gender question. We should consider writing to the Chairperson of international conferences, at an early planning stage, with our suggestions and recommendations. We should be prepared to take responsibility within the organisations which are responsible for the conferences.

All these recommendations carry the obligations of time, commitment and work. So we need to be sure that the structures we are trying to influence are worth the effort, and that they are an appropriate vehicle for our investment. Is it really a priority to “mainstream” by trying to influence international energy meetings? Or should we rather first focus on building up our own networks through meetings on women and energy at the regional and national level? (see e.g. African Development Bank meeting discussed in ENERGIA News #2).

Funding is a real issue. Organising sessions is not only time-consuming, but funds are often needed to bring participants to meetings, especially from developing countries. A number of organisations offer travel grants, for example the Commonwealth Science Council (see p. 15 of this issue). We would like to receive the names and addresses of other organisations which offer travel grants so we can publish a list in future issues of ENERGIA News.

Another question, raised in ENERGIA News #2 ‘News-from-the-Editors’, is what do we mean by women and energy? There obviously needs to be an effort both to get more women at conferences as participants and presenters, and to get women's issues on the agenda and recommendations.

How should gender issues best be presented at international energy meetings? Ellen Kennedy of Winrock International points out that many international energy meetings nowadays are tailored to industry:

‘This kind of audience needs a different message...The effective way to introduce gender in such a meeting is by establishing women as the backbone of the rural market, and how to tailor their products and ‘software’ better to women. I have been at a few meetings like this where some brave soul demands more of a discussion on gender issues and involvement of women, and is blithely ignored. Industry is just not interested (for the most part) in social issues, so the message needs to show how gender has real commercial implications - which it does. For example, a representative of one of Brazil's north-eastern utilities recently told me that they frequently work with women in off-grid projects because rural women are better educated than their male counterparts (quite the reverse for most countries), and can follow manuals and take readings better. This is the kind of data that industry needs - the more country-specific, the better.’

So far, two international energy meetings have been targeted by ENERGIA for introducing a gender perspective and discussions, and several ENERGIA members have volunteered to co-ordinate these efforts (see p.15 ). If you are planning on attending one of these meetings and would like to help organise or participate in the workshop on women, please contact them. If you would like to propose introducing a gender perspective or organising workshops on women's issues at other international energy meetings that you will be attending, please contact ENERGIA directly and we will try to assist and put you in contact with others.

Elizabeth Cecelski, Editorial Team, with inputs from Barbara Farhar, Judy Johnson, Ellen Kennedy, and Alison Patterson