Gender equality in the energy sector: Understanding how renewable energy contributes to empowerment

Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 10:00-11:30 AM EDT

Gender mainstreaming in the energy sector is taking place from national policies to institutional reforms and project development, ultimately increasing energy access and providing low emission development pathways for many around the world. Gender has been a central pillar of the commitments towards achieving universal access to modern energy and is recognized as a cornerstone within the Sustainable Development Goals. While efforts at integrating gender considerations into climate change and the renewable energy sector have progressed over the years, most of this progress has taken place in small scale, community-based projects.

This first webinar in the GECCO Energy webinar series is tasked with providing the basics on why it is necessary to address gender in the energy sector, as well as pinpoint where good practices and knowledge gaps exist. The content of this webinar will be further expanded by succeeding learning sessions.

The webinar will provide answers to the following questions:

• Why is it necessary to apply a gender responsive approach in the energy sector?
• What do we mean by women’s empowerment in energy sector?
• Which are the conditions necessary for achieving gender equality in the energy sector?
• Which are the next steps and questions to be addressed to achieve gender equality in the energy sector?

The Gender Equality for Climate Change Opportunities (GECCO) initiative is a five-year program launched by USAID and IUCN’s Global Gender Office in 2014. GECCO’s overall goal is to leverage advancements in women’s empowerment and gender equality through, and for, the benefit of climate change and development outcomes. Through its series of webinars, GECCO aims at increasing knowledge and sensitization of key stakeholders in the energy and mitigation sectors as a means to advance women’s empowerment.

The GECCO team will be happy to provide you with our support prior to and during the webinar.

For technical and communications/outreach questions, please contact Maggie Roth (maggie.roth@iucn.org).
For content questions please contact Ana Rojas (ana_v_rojas@hotmail.com).