Women and the Energy Revolution in Asia [1st ed. 2020] 978-981-15-0229-3, 978-981-15-0230-9

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii
Asia’s Energy Transition: “Leapfrogging” Stages (Reihana Mohideen)....Pages 1-7
Gender-Powered Approaches (Reihana Mohideen)....Pages 9-26
Technologies “Disrupting” Gender Relations? (Reihana Mohideen)....Pages 27-38
Gender-Inclusive Energy: The Nepal Case (Reihana Mohideen)....Pages 39-58
Some Concluding Comments (Reihana Mohideen)....Pages 59-67
Back Matter ....Pages 69-84

Citation preview

Women and the Energy Revolution in Asia

Reihana Mohideen

Women and the Energy Revolution in Asia

Reihana Mohideen

Women and the Energy Revolution in Asia

Reihana Mohideen Electrical and Electronic Engineering University of Melbourne Parkville, VIC, Australia

ISBN 978-981-15-0229-3    ISBN 978-981-15-0230-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0230-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Pattern © Melisa Hasan This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-­01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

This book is dedicated to my partner, Sonny Melencio, for giving me the courage to chart a new course.

Acknowledgement

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Francesco Tornieri and Rob Evans without whom this book would not have been possible, and to Tony Iltis for his invaluable editorial assistance and advice on the manuscript’s contents.

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Contents

1 Asia’s Energy Transition: “Leapfrogging” Stages 1 2 Gender-Powered Approaches 9 3 Technologies “Disrupting” Gender Relations?27 4 Gender-Inclusive Energy: The Nepal Case39 5 Some Concluding Comments59  Appendix A: Design and Formulation—Gender Equity and Social Inclusion and Energy Action Plan Template

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 Appendix B: List of Persons, from the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, Nepal, Interviewed by the Author and Questionnaires

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Bibliography81

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List of Figures

Fig. 4.1

Correlation between technologies/systems uptake and subsidies in Nepal (NRREP annual reports, July 2012–July 2015). (Source: Author) Fig. 4.2 Uptake of new technologies in Nepal by ethnic and caste composition. (Source: NRREP Annual Report 2014–2015) Fig. 4.3 Regional trends for skilled provider–assisted delivery and TV access for health information. (Source: DHS Survey, 2011. http://dhspr ogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR257/FR257% 5B13April2012%5D.pdf. Accessed April, 2014) Fig. 5.1 Gender equity integrated reference “community” energy system. (Source: Author. Based on F. Nerini et al. 2015. Estimating the Cost of Energy Access: The Case of the Village of Suro Craic in Timor Leste. Energy. 79 (1). pp.  385–397. Nerini’s reference energy system is developed from M.  Beller. 1976. Reference Energy System Methodology. Upton, New  York: Brookhaven National Laboratory. https://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/ purl/7191575. ADB recognizes “Timor Leste” as Timor-Leste)

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List of Tables

Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 4.3 Table A.1

Summary of AEPC GESI concepts 44 Impact of micro-hydro (MH) access on educational outcomes (ages 5–18) 55 Impacts of MH Access on HH health outcomes (hours per month)56 Rural electrification GESI and energy action plan 70

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CHAPTER 1

Asia’s Energy Transition: “Leapfrogging” Stages

Abstract  Modern energy access is an important indicator of poverty and social development. Asia is rapidly increasing its access to energy. This expansion is taking place at a time when the threat of climate change has necessitated the decarbonization of industry, replacing fossil-fuel energy with renewables. While there is no technological fix to the social and gender equity challenges that confront society, the transition taking place in the energy sector in developing Asia, driven by technology innovation, can enable countries to “leapfrog” stages by using fewer capital-intensive, centralized systems and technology. This would have important improvements in the quality of life of communities, providing women the opportunity to get on board at the early phase of these changes and influence and even transform their societies and lives. Keywords  Energy transition • Gender equity • Asia • Climate change • Renewable energy • Leapfrogging • China • Capitalism Why did technologies take the form that they did? What assumptions do engineers, politicians and business people make about the role that people or machines might play in the brave new worlds they sought after? How can we find multidisciplinary ways of looking at social and technical relations, even-handedly? While the book does not attempt to tackle all these questions, several of the issues raised impinge on these questions. © The Author(s) 2020 R. Mohideen, Women and the Energy Revolution in Asia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0230-9_1

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While Asia has made remarkable progress in providing electricity access to hundreds of millions of people in the last two decades, there is still a long way to go, to reach compatibility with OECD countries. Modern energy access (or the lack of it), therefore, is an important indicator of poverty and social development, such as equitable access to health, education and basic services, as well as women’s welfare and even status in society. South Asia is also a region of the world where extreme gender disparities persist, with low labour force participation rates for women, disproportionate levels of poverty amongst women and some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world (UNDP 2013). There is no technological fix to the social and gender equity challenges that confront society. However, the transition taking place in the energy and power sector in developing Asia, driven by technology innovation, can enable countries to “leapfrog” stages by using fewer capital-intensive, centralized systems and technology. This would have important welfare benefits and improvements in the quality of life of women and men. Modern energy services can improve women’s welfare and enable women to fulfil their traditional roles, but don’t structurally change gender relations. However, energy services that contribute to women’s economic empowerment can be a key factor in catalysing the transformation of gender roles.

The Energy Transition Asia’s energy transition is being driven by energy demand and the commitment by developing Asia’s economies to cut back emissions to reduce the average rise in global mean surface temperature. A substantial global effort is required to meet the 2  °C warming limit under the Paris Agreement, within which Asia has a critical role to play. The energy transition implies that the way we produce and consume energy has to change. While the power grid is undoubtedly an astonishing scientific and engineering achievement that transformed living standards in the last century—female and male life expectancy, maternal mortality, education and more—it now has to change. The world’s power grids are becoming old, too big, unreliable, harder to control, and expensive to maintain, experiencing peak-to-average problems. They are increasingly contributing to global warming and are not suited to incorporation of distributed energy, experiencing contingency restoration problems and increasing use of constant power loads and inverters.

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They are also socially inequitable—they are not available to everyone and have been unable to solve the challenges of energy access in developing countries. The energy transition is a response to this and is already underway, and it is also driven by technology innovation. It is a transformation from the old grid to a new one, although the features of this new grid haven’t yet been clearly defined or understood. The transformation of the energy and power sector is especially marked in Asia. In India and China, more than 50% of existing power capacity was built in the last decade, and in ASEAN more than 40% was. This also demonstrates that Asia is relatively unhindered by legacy issues related to old systems in the power sector. This rapidly growing new and smarter grid is driven by, and continues to foster, technology innovation.

Technology, Society, and Environment The case study of the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) in Nepal clearly shows that access to electricity can create significant progress in gender equity and social inclusion, and that renewable energy, distributed through decentralized mini-grids that use smart technology, is the most effective way of increasing access, particularly in rural areas. But the data from the AEPC also shows that uptake of alternative energy is increased by measures to address existing inequalities, such as targeted subsidies benefiting women-headed households, the poor and those marginalized due to ethnicity, religion, caste or geography. The impact of technology on society is not independent of politics and economics. The research presented here demonstrates the potential for decentralized renewable energy, and other disruptive emerging technologies, to enable much of Asia (and other parts of the developing world) to leapfrog over the phase of fossil fuel–burning, centralized capital-intensive energy and industry, and create sustainable development in a way that increases human potential and reduces inequality. However, the degree to which this potential is realized will not be determined by the technology itself but by decisions made by institutions, governments, communities and individuals. Scientists—and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events all over the world—are warning that the 2 °C limit set by the Paris Agreement may not be sufficient to prevent catastrophe, while current trends in energy production worldwide suggest it is unlikely that the Paris targets will be met.

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Continued increases in carbon emissions from energy generation and transport, despite the known very real possibility of this leading to the extinction of humanity, is evidence that there is an irrationality in the way decisions are made. Commoner (1972) in The Closing Circle wrote: “We are in an environmental crisis because the means by which we use the ecosphere to produce wealth are destructive of the ecosphere itself. The present system of production is self-destructive; the present course of human civilization is suicidal.” John Bellamy Foster’s Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature (2000) explains this irrationality through capitalism, being based on the alienation of humanity from nature, and the alienation of production from humanity. Bellamy Foster argues that carbon emissions will continue to increase while decision-making is monopolized by capitalists and governments and institutions that serve them. The history of capitalism is intertwined with the history of fossil fuel–based industry. The power of capitalists derives from owning carbon emitting means of production. Their material interest is for the transition to renewable energy technologies to be incremental, allowing them to maintain control of the means of production through the transition. However, preventing catastrophic climate change requires a much more rapid decarbonization of production: one which would make a significant proportion of the means of production worthless as capital. In the global transition to renewables, questions of social economy and political power will have to be confronted. Likewise, Commoner (2011), in a 1973 lecture, said: “When any environmental issue is pursued to its origins, it reveals an inescapable truth—that the root cause of the crisis is not to be found in how men interact with nature, but in how they interact with each other—that, to solve the environmental crisis we must solve the problems of poverty, racial injustice and war.”

Can Developing Asia Leapfrog Stages to a Sustainable and Gender Equitable Future? In developing world communities that lack access to electricity, systems of energy generation and distribution, using renewable energy and decentralized smart-grid technology and mini-grids, can be developed from the outset.

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The concept that technological innovation can enable developing countries to “leapfrog” stages—jumping over capital-intensive, centralized systems and technology—is the sibling of the concept of disruptive technologies. While in the already highly industrialized parts of the world, new technologies are disruptive because they present a challenge to very well-­ established systems and technologies, in developing countries they can bring important welfare benefits and improvements in the quality of life for women and men more cheaply and sustainably than the older technology. Smart phones are a commonly cited example, with mobile phone and Internet access becoming the norm in places that never had a landline-­ based phone network. In the world’s most industrialized countries, there is debate over whether disruptive technology will bring a leisure-defined utopia or an unemployment-defined dystopia—a networked future combining individual choice and autonomy with enhanced ways to communicate and collaborate with other people, or a technological totalitarianism with enhanced manipulation and surveillance. Rundle (2014) says that how these questions are answered will be determined politically—by which sections of society are included or excluded from making the relevant decisions. The same is true with “leapfrogging” stages in developing countries. The power of multinational capital in steering development is visible in much of the excitement over the leapfrogging potential of smart phones being focused on quixotic attempts to turn the world’s poorest people into consumers of financial services. The evidence from the AEPC case study is part of a growing body of evidence that renewable energy technologies and other new technologies allow living standards and quality of life to improve without the carbon emissions that accompanied such improvements in the West. Furthermore, the evidence shows that such development can bring improvements in gender equity. However, whether gender relations can “leapfrog” stages driven by technology innovation and advancement is an entirely different matter. Energy services can improve women’s welfare and enable women to fulfil their traditional roles, but don’t structurally change gender relations. However, energy services that contribute to women’s economic

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empowerment can be a key factor in catalysing the transformation of gender roles. While there is no technological fix to the social and gender equity challenges that confront society, the transition taking place in the energy and power sector driven by technology innovation does provide women the opportunity to get on board at the early phase of these changes and influence and even transform their societies and lives. “Leapfrogging” technologies are particularly important when nature disrupts human society, and technology and infrastructure are suddenly wiped out. While seismic and climatic disasters have always had the ability to disrupt society, the disruption of the climate by carbon emissions is making natural disasters a lot more common. The AEPC case study suggests that when empowered to make decisions—even to a relatively small degree, such as through the targeted subsidies—women, the poor and communities marginalized due to ethnicity, caste, religion or geography make decisions that are in their material interests and embrace the potential that renewables and related technologies offer. On the one hand, this disruptive technology has the potential to empower women and increase inclusion and equality. On the other hand, the struggles for inclusion and equality by women, the poor and marginalized have the potential to disrupt decision-making, which is necessary for the technology to fulfil its potential. The threat posed by anthropogenic climate change makes this an existential question for humanity. The system of energy production and distribution that has existed for over a century was also gender biased. It was (and still is, to a large extent) an industry designed and dominated by men. Therefore, the transformation of the energy and power sector in Asia should be of tremendous interest to gender equity advocates, as it has potentially important implications for gender equity and women’s empowerment. It’s in the context of these changes that the book is situated.

Bibliography Bellamy Foster, John. 2000. Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature. New York: Monthly Review Press. Commoner, Barry. 1972. The Closing Circle: Confronting the Environmental Crisis. London: Cape.

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———. 2011. Barry Commoner: Ecology and Social Action. https://climateandcapitalism.com/2011/12/20/barry-commoner-ecology-and-social-action/. Rundle, Guy. 2014. A Revolution in the Making: 3D Printing, Robots and the Future. Melbourne: Affirm Press. UNDP. 2013. Human Development Report 2013. The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World. New York: United Nations Development Program.

CHAPTER 2

Gender-Powered Approaches

Abstract  A basic engineering approach is to find an optimal solution in the face of the complexity of the overall problem, that is, finding an approximation of the reality, or the optimality, in order to pose the problem neatly and then solve it. Social systems and societal impacts, however, are complex and non-linear. Interdisciplinary approaches are needed to evaluate impacts on gender equity, such as the impact of energy systems on women’s health, livelihoods, employment and other societal impacts. Multiple pathways to address gender equity through energy have been identified. Evidence suggests that small-scale infrastructure projects, such as mini-grids, are more conducive than large-scale conventional energy projects to improving access to services by the poor, providing greater opportunities for participation by women and other marginalized groups. Keywords  Technology • Engineering • Gender and development • Capabilities • Solar energy • Cook stoves • Feminist • Multiple pathways

Engineering Approaches A basic engineering approach is to find an optimal solution in the face of the complexity of the overall problem, that is, finding an approximation of the reality, or the optimality, in order to pose the problem neatly and then

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solve it. Social systems and societal impacts, however, are complex and non-linear, unlike engineering systems. The prediction of developments in the underlying technology, for example, is not so much the problem as its unintended societal consequences, and here, people are a key factor. The job of engineers is to constantly interact with and negotiate this linear/ non-linear divide. It is the ability to interact this divide that is important. It is through such an interaction that real-life engineering problems are (albeit sometimes approximately) solved. This approach has guided the research. Bijker and Law (1992) argue that technology is shaped by politics, economics, theories of strengths of materials, available raw materials, notions of aesthetics and other factors. This research takes a slice of the overall problem of the relationship between technology and society and attempts to draw some conclusions. Engineering studies on energy expose a serious lack of social analysis and little or no analysis of gender equity impacts (whether positive or negative). The socio-economic focus is (almost overwhelmingly) on cost analysis and market viability. Community consultation activities tend to be viewed as a public relations exercise to win community support for energy projects. One of the few attempts to analyse gender issues in energy studies has been done by Vaclav Smil (2003). Based on an interdisciplinary research, Smil looks at the relationship between energy consumption and the quality of life. Smil argues that all of the “commonly used measures of energy use—be it conversion efficiencies, energy costs, per capita utilization levels, growth rates, consumption elasticity, or output rations—are just helpful indicators of the performance and dynamics of processes whose aim should not be merely to secure basic existential needs or to satisfy assorted consumerist urges but also to enrich intellectual lives and to make us more successful as a social and caring species” (p. 97). Smil acknowledges the difficulties in gender-related energy studies, partly due to the fact that data on the use of household energy are rare and unreliable and also partly due to a lack of sex-disaggregated data. Smil identifies infant mortality and life expectancy as two of the most important indicators of the “physical” quality of life and, using UNDP data from 2001, correlates these indicators with average per capita energy consumption in the world’s 57 most populous countries. Smil finds that “acceptable levels” of infant mortality of (less than 30/1000 live births) correspond to per capita energy use of at least 30–40GJ a year. Low levels of infant mortality (fewer than 20/1000 live births) were prevalent in

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countries consuming at least 60GJ a year per capita. The lowest rates (below 10/1000 live births) were not found in any country consuming less than 110 GJ.  Smil’s research also reveals clear saturation levels: increased energy use beyond this point is not associated with any further declines of infant mortality. An important factor that is brought to bear on infant mortality levels is the mothers’ health and well-being. Using the same methodology Smil looks at the correlation between female life expectancy at birth (which tends to be higher, on average by 3–5 years, than the rates for males) and per capita energy consumption. Smil finds that “female life expectancies above 70 years are seen in countries consuming no more than 45–50 GJ of energy per capita, the seventy-five-year threshold is surpassed at about 60GJ, but the averages above 80 years are not found in any country consuming less than about 110GJ/capita”. This interdisciplinary research done by Smil can be extended to look at the correlation between other gender equity indicators such as maternal mortality ratios (MMR) and energy consumption. This research finds that there is a strong (negative) correlation (r2  ≈  0.8) between energy consumption and MMR for 18 Asian countries for which UN data was available (Mohideen 2013). Energy studies that look at historical trends in technology innovation have provided useful insights on linkages with societal impacts and transformation, as well as issues related to causality. Grubler (2012), in his case study of energy technology innovation from a historical as well as futures scenario perspective, argues that in terms of causality, technology and institutional and social settings “co-evolve, mutually depending on, mutually cross-enhancing each other” (chapter 24, p.  2). He outlines four “grand” patterns which characterize technological change and their corresponding energy transitions: 1. No individual technology, as important as it may be, is able to transform whole energy systems that are large and complex. 2. Any new technology introduced is initially crude, imperfect and very expensive. 3. The history of past energy transitions highlights the critical importance of end use, that is, consumers and energy demand. 4. The process of technological change (from innovation to wide spread diffusion) takes considerable time (as a rule, many decades), and rates of change become slower, the larger the energy system affected (Chapter 24).

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These “grand” patterns identified by Grubler provide useful insights into the “co-evolution” of technological change and social and gender transformation. Smil (2006), while rejecting any simplistic technical determinism, argues that technological change and advances, including high energy use, were determining factors in the socio-economic advances of the twentieth century. Examples of this include increases in average life expectancy, large declines in infant and maternal mortality and a rise in educational levels, including post-secondary education, which also benefited women enormously. He simultaneously acknowledges the complexities and limits of causality through what he describes as “yin-yang pairings: frequently dominant but most often only as primus inter pares [the first among equals or peers], fundamental but not automatically paramount; increasingly universal but not immune to specific influences”, and so on (p. 9).

Capability Framework The research methodology has also been informed by the “capability” approaches of Sen (1979) and Nussbaum (2000, 2011) applied here to engineering studies on energy. This is summed up by the view that it’s not only about the technology or energy resources and systems that are available, but how these do or do not enable women and men make use of social, economic, political opportunities. Applied to energy, it’s not about the intrinsic value of energy or electrification, but their indirect good (Moss and McGann 2011). The “capability” approach theorized by Sen is now highly influential through the Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Program. The initial statement of Sen’s framework is a critique of an income-centred view of poverty as misleading in identifying and evaluating poverty. Sen argues against the “fetishist handicap in being concerned with goods” and for an alternative approach, which shifts attention “from goods to what goods do to human beings ”. Because “[i]f human beings were very like each other, this would have not mattered a great deal, but there is evidence that the conversion of goods to capabilities varies from person to person substantially, and the equality of the former may still be far from the equality of the latter” (Sen 1979). The gender dimension of the capability approach was developed by Martha Nussbaum. In her narrative of the life of Vasanti, a poor Indian woman, Nussbaum applies her version of the capabilities approach to con-

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duct a social evaluation of Vasanti’s situation. Vasanti lives in Ahmedabad, the main city in the state of Gujarat. She is a victim of domestic violence at the hands of the husband, whom she leaves and returns to her family. Vasanti then comes across the non-government organization SEWA (Self-­ Employed Women’s Organization) which helps her establish a small business with a microcredit loan. She enrols in their education programme, which teaches women to read and write and to acquire the skills necessary to promote greater social and economic independence and political participation. According to Nussbaum, the central question is not “How satisfied is Vasanti?” or even “How much in the way of resources is she able to command?” It is, instead, “What is Vasanti actually able to do and to be?…. And we ask not just about the resources that are sitting around, but about how those do or do not go to work, enabling Vasanti to function in a fully human way” (Nussbaum 2000, p. 71). According to Nussbaum a basic level of capability must be met to enable human beings to function in a fully human way and she provides a list of what she describes as “central capabilities”. Examples that she provides, which are of special relevance to this research, are as follows: 1. “Life, Bodily Health and Bodily Integrity capabilities”, which include female life expectancy and maternal mortality 2. “Senses, Imagination and Thought capabilities”, which cover female literacy and technical and scientific training 3. “Bodily Integrity”, such as women’s personal safety and mobility both inside and outside the home 4. “Control over One’s Environment”, the right of women to equal employment 5. “Play” or time for leisure and recreational activities for women, as a result of reduction in time spent on household chores 6. “Affiliation”, which incorporates women’s involvement in all forms of social interaction, including participation, without discrimination, to be treated with dignity and on an equal footing with men 7. Women’s emotional development or confidence building and leadership development 8. Women’s relationship with nature (Nussbaum 2000, pp. 70–78) Moss and McGann (2011) apply the capability approach to energy use.

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“While there is a clear connection between energy availability and wellbeing, it is important to understand that access to an affordable and reliable supply of energy is an indirect (or extrinsic) good rather than something that is valued in its own right. Energy use is valuable not in itself, but for what it enables us to do or achieve” (p. 11). Drawing from Nussbaum’s list of interdependent “central human capabilities” they assess that energy use is important if people are to enjoy the central capabilities of Life, Bodily Health, Bodily Integrity and Control over One’s Environment. Medical and health services, tap water, refrigeration, heating, cooling, all key to “life” and “bodily health”, depend on energy services. Information technology and mass media are linked to the capability to exercise effective “control over one’s environment” in the twenty-first century, and street lighting can improve physical safety promoting the capability of “bodily integrity”. They also identify some gender equity linkages of energy access: the use of biomass fuels for cooking and the negative impact on women’s health; availability of pumped water reducing women’s time spent on household chores; radio and TV access to information and knowledge, including public health programmes and campaigns.

Development Approaches Much of the analysis on the role of women in energy development and the gender linkages and impacts of energy access is to be found in gender and development studies and literature. A particular focus is on women’s reproductive labour in the home, such as cooking, household water collection and management, as well as household production activities, such as food production and processing for market consumption, and their related energy needs and uses. Much of the methodologies used are those prevalent in development studies, which include, among others: gender analysis, with an emphasis on ethnographic or qualitative research for the collection of ­sex-­disaggregated and gender data; gender toolkits and checklists; and case studies to assess gender benefits and results. While there is some analysis of technologies in relation to end-use household appliances, such as clean and improved cook stoves for reducing indoor air pollution, the use of different energy systems and electricity supply technologies and their consequences for gender equity benefits and impacts have not been analysed adequately to date. This research builds on the work done in gender studies, with a focus on renewable energy systems and

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technologies and their probable gender linkages and impacts, in an attempt to address this gap. The role of women in energy development is a recent area of study which began in the early 1980s with pioneering works by those such as Cecelski (1992). A substantial body of literature has been built up since then, albeit heavily influenced by development theories and practice. The World Bank sponsored EnPoGen studies (1999–2001) analysed the linkages between energy poverty and gender. Massé (2003) has studied the gender impacts of rural electrification in Sri Lanka, which reduced the time spent by poor women on household chores and increased their leisure (and quality) time spent with their families at night. Massé’s study also reported that given the increase in available working hours, women’s home-based livelihood activities increased markedly in comparison to unelectrified areas. However, due to gender inequalities in access to productive assets such as land and natural resources, as well as labour-saving technology and affordable credit, women’s ability to tap into these opportunities is limited. Drawing on the existing body of literature on the subject, gender issues in energy production and distribution in South Asia can be identified. Women’s health and security is one gender issue. An important characteristic of the energy mix of countries in South Asia is their heavy dependence on traditional use of fuels (wood, agricultural residues, and animal dung) in meeting total energy consumption. The IEA (2013) estimates that the percentage of the global population dependent on the traditional use of biomass for cooking has increased and that this deteriorating situation is primarily due to population growth outpacing the provision of clean cooking facilities. Additionally, new research finds that, as a result of household air pollution using solid fuels, there are 3.6 million premature deaths each year, higher than previous estimates (Lim et  al. 2012). Although there is an increasing understanding amongst governments and energy sector agencies in South Asia on the importance of prioritizing investments in the provision of clean and safe cooking energy, much more needs to be done. Similarly, while street lighting can improve women’s safety and mobility, these services too are often not prioritized for investment (ADB 2012). Another issue is affordability. Where modern energy services are available, lack of affordability prevents access to these services by the poor. Tariff levels, for example, generally do not take into account women’s lower incomes compared to men, thus limiting women’s access to energy

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services. Public consultation processes, including assessing communities’ willingness to pay, are not always gender or socially inclusive. Various policy instruments exist, such as affordable tariffs, subsidies and schemes, as well as revolving funds providing cheap credit to connect, which need to be utilized and adapted to target the poor, women and disadvantaged consumers in the lower consumption band (Clancy et al. 2012). Access to livelihood opportunities and employment is also a gender issue affected by energy production and distribution. Lack of electricity, including poor and unreliable quality of supply resulting in prolonged outages or shortages, also make it difficult for poor households, including women, to maximize potential opportunities such as the functioning of women’s small and microenterprises (Massé 2003). While the energy sector can provide employment opportunities for women and men, persistent gender inequalities in secondary and higher education, as well as gender stereotypes in the labour market, restrict women’s participation in the sector. Women’s access to opportunities for technical and skills training is also limited. Case studies demonstrate positive and significant results when special measures are taken to provide poor women with opportunities to access technical training. Where women are given the opportunity and provided with the appropriate training, they have proven themselves capable of designing, assembling and operating renewable energy technologies. The example of Barefoot College in India, which has used innovative techniques to train poor rural women, with low levels of literacy, in solar energy technology, is well documented. Poor women from Asia, Africa and Latin America have been trained in the assembly, operation and maintenance of solar PV home systems and solar lanterns. These women are known as “barefoot women solar engineers”. Awareness-raising and user education is a gender issue that affects energy distribution and use. Household energy efficiency is of special relevance to women—gendered roles and responsibilities mean that women in rural areas of the Global South spend much of their time doing work within the household. However, user education programmes on the safe and efficient use of electricity at the household level, which should complement energy efficiency projects, are overlooked or not effectively targeted at women household consumers (ADB 2012). Gender roles in decision-making also affect energy distribution and use. The types of fuels used, the amount of energy purchased, the devices and technology chosen, as well as domestic infrastructure related to ventila-

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tion, lighting priorities and energy-based equipment purchased are usually made by the male head of the household but affect women’s daily lives in very immediate and practical ways (Masud et  al. 2007). Women’s and men’s perception of the benefits of modern energy can be different. Women would place a greater emphasis on benefits related to improving health care and children’s education, reducing expenditure, reducing their workload and improving household safety. The provision of electricity and diesel for tractors, for instance, can reduce the manual labour required by men to look after draft animals, while it can have little or no impact on the daily chores performed by women. Improving access to energy can also positively affect gender relations by improving access to information. Where radios and television sets are purchased for leisure and entertainment, both women and men have identified the access to information and entertainment as a benefit (UNDP 2004). This can also have unexpected outcomes on the self-esteem and empowerment of isolated and confined women, particularly as they become aware of modern labour-saving alternatives and lifestyles, which they may otherwise be ignorant about or unaware of (Mohideen 2013). Access to such information can widen women’s awareness of different possibilities and increase their ability to question their marginalization. Sustainable development recognizes the application of renewable energy supplies as the primary, fundamental energy source, thus heavily influencing and becoming an increasing focus in gender and development studies and practice. These studies, drawing extensively from the experience of renewable energy programmes in Asia and Africa, show that women need renewable energy to: 1. address the “biomass cooking crisis”, that is, fuel scarcity and women’s and children’s health and safety problems associated with the use of traditional biomass for cooking energy; 2. reduce women’s socially necessary but unpaid (and therefore unrecognized and undervalued) labour time associated with reproductive labour at the household level; 3. give women more efficient energy choices to aid their work especially in the context of increased urbanization and its associated high-pressure lifestyles; and 4. enable women’s microenterprise development, to increase their livelihood opportunities and income by improving the productivity and quality of their enterprises (Cecelski 2000).

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The introduction of small-scale renewable energy systems to electrify rural communities in development projects also highlights a relatively recent problem of who owns the technology. A review of the AEPC biogas programme in Nepal found a massive gender and caste gap in biogas plant ownership. Studies also emphasize the importance of women’s traditional knowledge in natural resource management, and the importance of tapping into and developing this knowledge, as an integral part of renewable energy development. However, indigenous women, who hold much of this traditional knowledge, continue to experience gender discrimination compounded by the added marginalization endured by indigenous peoples, much of it as a result of their lack of access to traditional lands (Kelkar 2010).

Multiple Pathways Multiple pathways to address gender equity through energy have been identified. Jacobsen (2011) assesses four network technologies—water, electricity, Internet and other telecentre services, and mobile phones—in the framework of multiple pathways to change gender equity through technology. She concludes that electricity provision is “more promising” as it substitutes for physical labour and complements a wide range of productive activities. Internet services, while minimally utilized by women in low-­ income countries, significantly reduces transaction costs on information flows. Mobile phones, however, reduce the physical labour of travel (e.g., to access information), reduce the costs of money transfers, and increase the ability of women entrepreneurs to coordinate their family work and working lives. Given their relatively low cost and multiple uses, they are widely used in many poor rural communities in Asia. Nevertheless, ­significantly, Jacobsen concludes, how changes in gender equity can be credited to any one or any set of technologies “may be ultimately unanswerable given the holistic nature of transformation” (p. 31). Skutsch (1998) points out that access to energy services is primarily a welfare function as it doesn’t alter systemic gender inequality: “A welfare approach aims to lighten women’s daily problems, but not structurally to change their roles” (p. 948). The goal of women’s “empowerment”, however, presupposes a transformation in gender roles and relations to enable women “to break through tradition if they wish to, and to take on new roles and challenges”. This may not always be a realistic goal in energy technology as

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they are rarely the “steering objectives or outcomes” of energy projects (Skutsch 1998, pp. 39–40). In addition to welfare, income and empowerment, Skutsch (2005) also identifies an extra factor—project efficiency. While the aim here is not gender equity, failure by project management to recognize that men and women have different needs and have different access to resources means that projects can easily miss their target of benefiting consumers by addressing their needs. Therefore, she suggests that the process by which the energy service is planned, implemented and maintained, if done in a gender sensitive manner, may be more empowering than the energy technology itself (Skutsch 2005). Clancy concurs with Skutch and examines the evidence supporting whether or not there are changes in gender relations and finds that the evidence is mixed. While in Sri Lanka men were found to share household work such as ironing after household electrification, in Bangladesh no changes in the gender division of labour were found. Therefore the “[a]ccess to modern energy appears to enable women to fulfil their traditional roles (to their satisfaction and well-being) rather than bringing significant transformation in gender roles” (Clancy et al. 2012, p. 21). Clancy concludes that “energy access alone is not sufficient, and other contextual factors such as legal and policy frameworks are needed to support such a change” (p. 21). While these multiple pathways or gender goals are interdependent and overlap, it is worth asking if some pathways are more conducive to enabling the transformation of gender relations. Kelkar and Nathan (2005) propose that a key factor to promote the rural fuel transition in Asia from unhealthy fuelwood (and related traditional biomass) to electricity and improved biomass technology “is to increase the productivity of women’s income-earning labour in order to bring about an economic worth in the use of women’s labour and thus induce a change in the household energy use system” (p. 25). They use research conducted in China and other parts of rural Asia, which found that when there were opportunities for women to participate in income-earning activities significantly, this was a strong incentive to economize on women’s unpaid labour time in fuel collection and other household tasks. However, the causality can also work both ways; that is, in social contexts where women have a higher economic and social status, they can (and in many instances do) exert greater influence on public policy, expenditure, including access to (energy) services, and its use. For example,

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Kelkar and Nathan’s case study of the Luoshui village in Yunnan, China, includes reference to the historical background of the area when “people began to seize political power” and the “gendered division of labour tended to be equal” (p.  29). Kelkar and Nathan point out: “It is not energy itself that has certain inevitable consequences, but the economic and social situation in which technologies are introduced and the balance of forces at any time” (p. 17).

Small- or Large-Scale Solutions? An implicit assumption in gender and development practice is that small-­ scale systems are more enabling for “bottom-up” participatory approaches, thus providing greater opportunities for participation by poor women and other marginalized groups. Some studies show that small-scale infrastructure projects, specifically decentralized renewable energy distribution systems and technologies, are more conducive to improving access to services by the poor (i.e. those below poverty line), compared to large-scale conventional energy projects. These findings have gender implications in relation to poor women’s access to energy services. A study by International Rivers (2012), which is a critique of the infrastructure strategies and track record of the Group of 20 and the World Bank in Africa, finds that big infrastructure projects tend to prioritize the demands of industrial consumers over the basic needs of the poor urban and rural populations and small farmers, who have very different infrastructure needs; and that they tend to entrench the power of vested interests and encourage corruption rather than democratic control. The gender implications are drawn out in relation to women’s access to cooking energy, where the report finds that from 2000 to 2008, less than 1% of the World Bank’s investments were for cooking and biomass energy, both in Africa and globally. The report recommendations are to scale up massively financial and policy support for decentralized infrastructure projects such as water and energy. An ActionAid and Oil Change International (2011) study supports similar findings in the case of India. According to the report, between the years 2002 and 2009, the addition of over 33,000 megawatts of coal-fired power plants and large hydropower only marginally increased the number of electrified villages, that is, 18,000 villages, and improved overall electrification by only 5%. The study finds that the addition of electricity generation from conventional power plants, be it large hydropower or coal-fired power plants, has

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not sufficiently addressed the issue of electricity access for the rural poor. The study identifies pico, micro and small hydropower, solar and wind hybrid systems and solar home systems, biogas for household, small-scale digesters and small-scale biomass gasifiers as particularly appropriate for off-grid rural areas. These technologies can provide for lighting and small electric needs, pumped water, small and microenterprises and clean cooking, thus contributing to reducing women’s labour time on household chores, improved health due to reduced indoor air pollution and women’s income generating activities. According to Verzola (2007), small-scale decentralized community-­ managed energy systems are more consistent with the ideals, principles and practices of democracy, and are more open to transparency and accountability mechanisms and processes and are therefore less prone to corruption. Verzola argues that highly centralized energy system modalities are mutually supportive of the vested interests of those who control highly centralized economic and political power. Chow et al. (2003) speculates that rather than adopting a system with large central-station power plants generating electricity and distributing it over long distances, developing countries, especially the poorest, can leap over stages by adopting smaller and less capital-intensive microturbines and renewable sources of electricity generation such as biomass, wind, and solar that are closer to the point of use. He compares it to the phenomenon where the developing countries leaped directly to cellular communication bypassing the paired-copper-wired grid telecommunication systems that characterized telephony in the industrialized countries. While these applications will bring with them their own particular sets of problems, it will also help the developing countries avoid others.

Feminist Approaches A shared theoretical position in science and technology studies (STS) is that technology is not purely technological. In STS, technology is treated as a sociotechnical product, and not simply as a product of rational technical imperatives. As a sociotechnical product, artefacts, people, organizations, culture and knowledge are combined in a seamless web or network (Bijker and Law 1992). Akrich (1992), in her case study of electrification in the Ivory Coast, provides an example of villagers who lived and functioned in a communal property system. After electrification, they were transformed into citizens

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with a relationship with the state based on a completely different set of property relations—individually owned private property and state-owned public property. The electricity bill became the means through which local taxes were collected in newly built towns, in which only a minority of salaried workers used to pay income tax. In the Ivory Coast, citizenship within the state was formalized through the intermediary of cables, pylons and transformers. Over the last two decades, feminists writing within the field of STS have theorized the relationship between gender and technology as one of mutual shaping. According to Wajcman (2010), the distinguishing insight of feminist STS (or what she also describes as technofeminism) is that gender is integral to this sociotechnical process. The materiality of technology affords or inhibits the doing of particular gender power relations. Drawing more women into design—the configuration of artefacts—is not only an equal employment opportunity issue but is also crucially about how the world we live in is shaped, by and for whom. We live in a technological culture, and so the politics of technology is integral to the renegotiation of gender power relations (Wajcman 2010). Wajcman presents a brief overview and timeline of the recent history of feminist theory on the subject, which provides useful background for the research. Feminist theories in the 1980s shifted the discourse from asking how women can be equitably treated within and by science to the question of how science can be used for emancipatory ends, given its historical evolution as a distinctly masculine project. Feminist analyses of technology shifted from women’s access to technology to examining the very processes by which technology is developed and used. Feminists who studied the relationship between women and technology, through the prism of the labour process and the technology of production, brought an ­important historical perspective to bear on the relationship between gender and technology. This literature provided a compelling critique of technological determinism, arguing that, far from being an autonomous force, technology itself is crucially affected by the social relations of production. Contemporary theories are influenced by the dawn of the digital age, with the development of information and communication technology (ICT). Feminist approaches of the 1990s and today are positive about the possibilities of ICT to empower women and transform gender relations. The optimism of this post-feminist literature is best summed up by Donna Haraway’s (1985, 1997) cyborg metaphor, conveying the idea that technology is an aspect of our identity and fully part of all of us. Conceiving of

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ourselves as cyborgs provides a tool for challenging traditional notions of gender identity and transforming the gender relations of technoscience and the relationship between women and technology. Terms such as “cyborg” and “cyberspace” found usage in the English language due to the influence of “cybernetics”, a transdisciplinary approach for exploring regulatory systems, their structures, constraints, and possibilities, pioneered by Norbert Wiener. The influence of cybernetics is evident in the post-feminist literature on technology by Haraway and others. Wajcman, however, while acknowledging that development in digital technology calls for some radical rethinking of the gender and technology relationship, warns against what she perceives as being an overly optimistic view. The possibility and the fluidity of gender discourse in the virtual world, she argues, is constrained by the gender relations actually experienced in the material world (Wajcman 2010). Lerman and others (2003) theorize that technology must be considered in an anthropological and historical way, and that its study involves not only material things but also people. Technology shapes gender and gender shapes technology at every level. Some technologies can be read as gender-coded, such as ovens and cook stoves, for example. But this then begs the question: Are cook stoves intrinsically feminine technologies? This is especially relevant in the field of energy studies, where improved smoke-free cook stoves are considered to be “gender-friendly” or feminine technologies. McGraw (1996) brings an archaeological perspective to the discussion and describes feminine technology as that which is associated with women by virtue of their biology, but conflates biology with socially assigned gender roles. Therefore, McGraw asserts, kitchen utensils, bras and IUDs are all feminine technologies. McGraw theorizes that subjecting contemporary artefacts to the same scrutiny that archaeologists reserve for the study of prehistoric and pre-industrial objects could shed light on our understanding of technologies of contemporary and earlier times. Studying feminine technologies in this way is necessary, she argues, to illuminate and expose contemporary society’s relationship to technology. One can argue that the description of certain types of technology (such as improved cook stoves) as feminine or “gender friendly” technology, reinforces traditional sex roles and gender stereotypes. Gender and technology are historically contingent and context driven, situated in time and place, argues Lerman et  al. (2003) pointing to the electric self-starting

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ignition which was initially marketed “for the wife” in the United States. Technologies have no power of their own. Human beings made these technologies and human beings choose to use them, often based on their desire for or resistance to change (Lerman et al. 2003). A study by Ergas and York (2012) on the links between environmental consequences and gender, presents important findings: in nations where women have a higher political status—indicated by the length of time that women have had the right to vote and women’s representation in parliament and ministerial government—tend to have lower CO2 emissions per capita, all else being equal. This suggests that efforts to improve gender equity may work “synergistically” with efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and impact positively on environmental consequences. Likely reasons for this linkage, according to the Ergas and York, include a “common ‘logic of domination’” underlying the exploitation of the environment and women. Instead of valuing nature and people in narrow utilitarian terms, improving gender equity may serve to transform how the environment is viewed.

Bibliography ActionAid and Oil Change International. 2011. Access to Energy for the Poor: The Clean Energy Option. Available at http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/ 2011/06/Access-to-Energy-for-the-Poor-June-2011.pdf. Akrich, M. 1992. The De-scription of Technical Objects. In Shaping Technology/ Building Society, Studies in Socio-technical Change, ed. Wiebe E.  Bijker and John Law. The MIT Press. Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2012. Gender Tool Kit: Energy Going Beyond the Meter. Manila. http://www.adb.org/documents/gender-tool-kit-energygoing-beyond-meter?ref=themes/gender/publications. Bijker, W.E., and J. Law, eds. 1992. Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Cecelski, Elizabeth. 1992. Women, Energy and Environment: Some Directions for Policy Research. Toronto, ON: International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study. ———. 2000. The Role of Women in Sustainable Energy Development, 3–5. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US Department of Energy. Chow, J., R.J.  Kopp, and P.R.  Portney. 2003. Energy Resources and Global Development. Science 302 (5650): 1528–1531. Clancy, J., et al. 2012. Social Influences on Gender Equity in Access to and Benefit from Energy. World Development Report 2012: Gender Equity and Development Background Paper, pp. 12–21.

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Ergas, Christina, and Richard York. 2012. Women’s Status and Carbon Dioxide Emissions: A Quantitative Cross-national Analysis. Social Science Research 41 (4): 965–976. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.03.008. Grubler, A. 2012. Grand Designs: Historical Patterns and Future Scenarios of Energy Technological Change. Historical Case Studies of Energy Technology Innovation. In The Global Energy Assessment, ed. F. Aguayo et al. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Haraway, D. 1985. A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s. Socialist Review 80: 65–108. ———. 1997. Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium. FemaleMan__Meets_ OncoMouse. New York: Routledge. International Energy Agency. 2013. World Energy Outlook. International Rivers. 2012. Infrastructure for Whom? A Critique of the Infrastructure Strategies of the Group of 20 and the World Bank. International Rivers, Berkeley, CA. Jacobsen, J. 2011. The Role of Technological Change in Increasing Gender Equity with a Focus on Information and Communications Technology. World Bank. World Development Report 2012: Gender Equity and Development: Background Paper, p. 8 and pp. 30–31. Kelkar, Govind. 2010. Adivasi Women Engaging with Climate Change. Energia News, May. Kelkar, Govind, and Dev Nathan. 2005. Gender Relations and the Energy Transition in Rural Asia. Energia 8 (2): 17–25. Lerman, N., R.  Oldenziel, and A.  Mohun. 2003. Gender and Technology: A Reader. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press. Lim, S., et al. 2012. A Comparative Risk Assessment of Burden of Disease and Injury Attributable to 67 Risk Factors and Risk Factor Clusters in 21 Regions, 1990–2010: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 380: 2224–2260. Massé, R. 2003. Impacts of Rural Electrification on Poverty and Gender in Sri Lanka. Washington, DC: World Bank. Masud, J., D. Sharan, and B. Lohani. 2007. Energy for All: Addressing the Energy, Environment, and Poverty Nexus in Asia. Manila: Asian Development Bank. McGraw, J. 1996. Why Feminine Technologies Matter. In Gender and Technology: A Reader, ed. N. Lerman, R. Oldenziel, and A. Mohun. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press. Mohideen, R. 2013. Improving Poor Women’s Quality of Life through Access to Clean and Renewable Energy in South Asia. Technology and Society Magazine, IEEE. September. Moss, J., and M. McGann. 2011. Climate Change and Energy Poverty in Timor-­ Leste. Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Melbourne Energy Institute. Nussbaum, Martha C. 2000. Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

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———. 2011. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Sen, Amartya. 1979. Equality of What? The Tanner Lecture on Human Values. Delivered at Stanford University, May 22. Skutsch, M. 1998. The Gender Issue in Energy Project Planning: Welfare, Empowerment or Efficiency? Energy Policy 26 (12): 945–955. ———. 2005. Gender Analysis for Energy Projects and Programmes. Energy for Sustainable Development 9 (1): 37–52. Smil, V. 2003. Chapter 2: Energy Linkages. In Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ———. 2006. Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press. UNDP. 2004. Gender & Energy for Sustainable Development: A Toolkit and Resource Guide. New York: United Nations Development Program. Verzola, Robert. 2007. Crafting a Sustainable Energy Program for the Philippines. Philippine Greens. http://rverzola.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/towardsa-sustainable-energy-program-for-the-philippines. Wajcman, J. 2010. Feminist Theories of Technology. Cambridge Journal of Economics. 34 (1): 143–152.

CHAPTER 3

Technologies “Disrupting” Gender Relations?

Abstract  “Disruptive technologies” have the potential to disrupt the status quo. Some feminists also reflect optimism about how these technologies provide a tool for challenging traditional notions of gender identity, transforming the relationship between women and technology. Renewable energy technologies and systems have the potential to transform how energy is produced, distributed and consumed. Smart and agile power systems based on distributed energy sources, such as mini-grids, can result in solutions for inclusive energy access. Disruptive technologies can enable developing countries to “leapfrog” stages of development, by using less capital-intensive centralized technology. However, technological change that has the possibility of enhancing equity and inclusion can also enhance pre-existing hierarchies and inequalities if controlled by those with vested interests, who deploy it to further entrench their position. Keywords  Disruptive technologies • Gender relations • Renewable energy • Mini-grids • Solar PV • Wind • India • Surveillance • Decentralization • Patriarchal Do some technologies have the potential to disrupt the status quo and change entirely the way people live and work and even think? An area of study has emerged which assesses the potential of certain technologies and © The Author(s) 2020 R. Mohideen, Women and the Energy Revolution in Asia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0230-9_3

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their development over the next 25 years, to do just that. These technologies are described as “disruptive technologies”. Disruptive technologies, such as 3D printing, autonomous vehicles, wearable Internet and energy storage, can transform how we address all of these issues. Disruptive technologies hold the potential to transform the way certain activities are conducted, from some industries disappearing and new ones emerging to the total transformation of mass consumption and production. A number of people are predicting that the extremely flexible manufacturing potential of 3D printing could even play a role in disaster response. The technology pioneers describe the potential of 3D printing to create a total self-producing environment, using recycled materials, printing out its own energy sources, linked to food production at one end and system production at the other (Rundle 2014). Not only is this the creation of a self-­contained production loop, but an entire system that lives off recycling of surplus products, such as plastics and other materials. Some feminists also reflect optimism about how these technologies provide a tool for challenging traditional notions of gender identity, transforming gender relations and the relationship between women and technology. Moore’s law refers to Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore’s 1965 prediction that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit will double every two years, meaning the growth of microprocessors is exponential. Computer performance that underpins many technology system advances has progressed according to Moore’s law for around 50 years and recent materials technology advances such as graphene pave the way for a further 10–20  years of exponential increase in performance and exponential reduction in size and cost. Advances in integrated circuit technology that followed Moore’s law have meant that the computer, which in the late 1960s occupied many tens of cubic metres in space, drew many kilowatts of power and cost several million dollars, could by 1980 be equalled by a device the size of a thimble, drawing just a few watts of power and costing a few dollars (Evans 2014). Renewable energy has been identified as having the potential, at least, to be a disruptive technology (Manyika et al. 2013) due to the following general characteristics: Rapidly advancing technology. Since 2000, the growth in solar PV and wind generation has grown significantly while costs have declined (the price of a solar PV cell has decreased by 85% since 2000).

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Broad potential scope of impact. It can change the quality of life, health and environment, and, if coupled with developing energy storage technologies (also identified as potentially disruptive), can provide energy access to millions of poor people. Economic impact, which could dramatically change the status quo. Renewable energy technologies can potentially change the comparative disadvantage of developing nations (Manyika et al. 2013). Renewable energy technologies and systems, have the potential to transform how energy is produced, distributed, and consumed, and by whom, and to foster technology innovation. Smart and agile power systems based on distributed energy sources, such as mini-grids, can result in community energy systems for smart cities or smart communities, simultaneously providing solutions for inclusive energy access. Hand in hand with these developments is the dark side of disruptive technologies, that is, the possibility for enhanced and wide-scale surveillance of human activities. The concerns of smart systems being used for surveillance and other societal issues can be addressed through democratic safeguards on data ownership and data access, as well as through addressing broader issues such as ownership and control of technologies. The potential scope of the impact is broad: it can change the quality of life, health and environment and if coupled with developing energy storage technologies (also identified as potentially “disruptive”) can provide energy access to millions of poor people. The economic impact of the technology could dramatically change the status quo: renewable energy technologies can potentially change the comparative disadvantage of developing nations, such as the case of China and India with ambitious plans for solar and wind adoption that could further enable rapid economic growth while mitigating negative environmental impacts (Manyika et al. 2013). The “convergence” of disruptive technologies has the potential to profoundly impact society. In the context of developing countries, it can enable them to “leapfrog” stages, by using less capital-intensive centralized systems and technology, with important welfare benefits and improvements in the quality of life of women and men. In Nepal, which has one of the lowest per capita consumption of electricity in the world, micro-hydro-based mini-grid systems are key to providing electricity to households in remote areas. In some villages, this has contributed to significant improvements in maternal and infant mortality rates, within a space of a few years.

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The ambiguous nature of technology change needs to be acknowledged, such as trends towards reduced privacy, the impact of robotization on employment, or the “weaponization” of technologies. However, we can also aspire to an alternative future: a child in a slum has her environment transformed by 3D printing, has access to complex medical treatment provided by a low-cost robotic surgical machine, available at the local health clinic, powered by very efficient solar systems. The possibilities are endless and the means do exist to chart a future course towards such ends as these. Critical societal issues, along with people’s preferences and even beliefs, are some of the factors that can and have influenced the uptake of new technologies and driven technological change. The concern over the dwindling of finite energy resources and environmental sustainability, for example, is driving the development of renewable energy technologies.

Disruptive to What? In the March 2013 report Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy, the McKinsey Global Institute lists 12 technologies that it says will potentially disrupt the economy. These are as follows: • Mobile Internet • Automation of knowledge work • The Internet of things • Cloud technology • Advanced robotics • Autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles • Next-generation genomics • Energy storage • 3D printing • Advanced materials • Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery • Renewable energy (Manyika et al. 2013) What is notable is that, while the relationship between technology, society and the economy is focused on, comparatively little attention is paid to the disruption of the biosphere by technological society, despite the effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, and industrial pollution already having

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catastrophic consequences, and quite likely posing an existential threat to humanity. Renewable energy is 12th on Mckinsey Institute’s list, after “Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery”. While decarbonizing industry is not the only disruptive potential renewables have, the urgent necessity to cease carbon emissions makes this renewables’ most important potential. However, decarbonizing the economy requires more than increased renewables. It requires an end to fossil-fuel energy. If renewable energy is to be accompanied by advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery, overall emissions are unlikely to be reduced. A study by Richard York from the University of Oregon finds that rather than displacing fossil fuels, renewable energy sources have proven to be mainly additive (York 2012). In his coverage of 132 nations, York finds that to displace 1kWh of fossil-fuel generated electricity requires generating more than 11kWh of non-fossil fuel electricity. The Mckinsey Institute’s report also reflects the trend of neoliberal techno-optimists to see autonomous private vehicles as a solution to transport problems, ignoring innovative developments in public transportation and urban planning. Rundle (2014) takes a more balanced view in seeing disruptive technology as having the potential to disrupt more than business models, and that this can be positive or negative. He poses the question of power: whether technology disrupts existing systems to increase equity and inclusion, or increases inequality, and states that this depends on who has the power to determine its use.

Underpinning Technologies The history of technology prediction indicates, however, that there are various and sometimes completely unexpected paths that technological development can take. Therefore, anticipating technology change and its potential impact is not always possible. Technology forecasting, while often seen as an activity of critical importance to both industry and ­government, is well known to be a notoriously difficult and unreliable process. Underpinning technologies are those existing and developing technologies that are advancing in a reasonably predictable manner. Hence, the likely capabilities within 10–20 years can be determined with some degree of confidence.

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Underpinning technologies include computing power and memory, which, excluding quantum computing, is likely to experience a 10-­million-fold increase in integration density with a similar reduction in cost and a many-fold increase in speed resulting in hand-held consumer devices having the capability of today’s supercomputers (such as, e.g., the IBM Blue Gene super computer) by 2025. How this massive increase in compute power will be used is unclear. Steadily advancing cognitive computing capability is likely to lead to a large increase in automated machine “thinking” ability that will be available for consumer devices by 2025. The IBM Watson computer is a first serious step in this direction. Networking capability and speed are set to increase steadily in the home and public transport, and on mobile networks. Near instantaneous and near-zero-cost DNA sequencing is another underpinning technology, as is fast, highly capable, low-cost and widespread 3D printing. Already 3D printers are employed to manufacture advanced components such as turbine blades and aerospace components, orthopaedic replacement parts and a range of electronic components. Humanoid robotics and natural user interface technology is likely to become increasingly capable while rapidly reducing in cost within 20 years. Autonomous vehicles, driverless cars, UAVs and electric vehicles will probably be widespread within 15 years. Other underpinning technologies include smaller, cheaper, more capable sensing and monitoring technology, including new nanotechnology based sensor systems, such as low-cost, chip-based bio-chemical analysis, as well as improved large- and small-scale alternative energy technology, better storage, wireless transfer for low power levels, energy scavenging technology for many consumer and monitoring applications, advanced power grid control and micro-grid technology (smart grid) (Evans 2014).

Critical Issues and Technology Convergence Slowly but steadily these new technologies are coming together in a larger ensemble of systems that open up new social and economic possibilities. Technology and system convergences could be shaped to address some critical societal issues.

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“Smart Cities” The problems associated with increasing urbanization, such as eroding urban ecology and air quality, and the increasing pressure on infrastructure and services, can be addressed through the following technology convergences. Smart and agile power systems + extensive sensing + analytics + networks + autonomous electric transport = safe, green, sustainable (smart) cities.

Impacts include improved urban ecology, biodiversity and air quality; the development of smart “traffic light” grids that predict traffic flow; smart and agile energy systems—“personal power” generation, storage and sharing; low-cost-effectiveness—reducing the relative cost of infrastructure, improving access and social equity; and, data-driven decision-­ making—strengthening governance and improving planning and design. The following system and technology convergences will also be a feature of these “smart cities”. Computing power + robotics = further automation of manual work Cyclic economies, increased recycling

However, part of these developments is enhanced and wide-scale surveillance of human activities. Technological change that has the possibility of enhancing equity and inclusion can also enhance pre-existing hierarchies and inequalities. The danger of technological change in the absence of political change is that the new technology is controlled by those already possessing economic or political power, who deploy it to further entrench their position. Water Sustainability Improved water sustainability, waste-water treatment, drinking water, ecological health of urban water ways and system management can be achieved through the convergence of smaller, cheaper and more capable sensing and monitoring technology with analytics and networks. Extensive sensing + analytics + networks = improved water productivity, ­sustainability and safer drinking water

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Much of the data that will underpin evidence-based practice will be derived from next-generation sensor networks that provide near-real-time environmental information, and much more rapid evaluation of environmental responses to water. Stewardson et al. (2014) assesses that there is an urgent need to increase our capacity to integrate remotely sensed (satellite and airborne platforms) with ground data in model-based assessments to evaluate the contribution of environmental water. Climate Change Some of the key issues related to climate change—both adaptation, risk mitigation, enhancing resilience as the climate changes, and emissions reduction—can be tackled through green power development, smart grids and improved quality of response, based on the following technology convergences. Renewable energy sources + sensing + networking + analytics + extensive distributed energy sources = green power (resilient smart grid) Extensive sensing + analytics + networking = improved quality of response, enhanced with robotics and UAVs

During the relief operations conducted in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, the fastest way to re-electrify devastated communities was through small-scale renewable energy technology solutions, such as solar lanterns and off-grid solar-powered mini-grids. Assessments of early warning efforts conclude that the warning systems were inadequate resulting in unnecessary loss of lives (Neussner 2014). Impacts of applying disruptive technologies to climate change mitigation include improved energy efficiency, reduced demand, accelerated transition to renewable energy, and informed decision-making, enhanced risk management and assessment from centre to on-ground emergency services—reducing loss of lives and negative impacts. Food Security Malnutrition and childhood mortality in the developing world can be addressed through the cost-effective agricultural applications of nanotechnology (UNDP 2004).

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The underpinning nanotechnology, in convergence with analytics and RFID technology can have significant impacts on food security and agricultural production. Nanotechnology + analytics + RFID technology = improved food security

Crop health can be monitored using nanosensor arrays. Sensors applied to the skin of livestock or sprayed on crops can help detect the presence of pathogens. It involves little land or maintenance, it is productive and inexpensive and it requires only modest amounts of materials and energy. Impacts include, improved crop protection, improved food quality, and increased agricultural productivity—decreasing malnutrition and child mortality and improving overall health outcomes. However, a warning must be taken from the history of technological solutions being prioritized in addressing global issues of food security. The biggest causes of food insecurity are inequality in access to land, and the prioritization of cash crops for global markets. During the industrial era, the disruptive technology of the day was posited as a solution to issues of food scarcity rooted in social, economic and political inequality. But not only has industrialization of agriculture usually led to increasing commercialization and globalization (export orientation); ecological consequences were not foreseen or were ignored as well. The “green revolution” in Punjab (India) initially created impressive increases in crop yield, but in the longer term left depleted soil, a cancer epidemic and increased rural poverty. In the twenty-first century, the disruptive technology of genetic modification of crops is being promoted as a solution to food insecurity. These GMOs have the potential to stop farmers from being able to save seeds from their crops, increasing expenses and dependence on agro-industrial corporations, and to increase pesticide use. Health Fast DNA sequencing + analytics = personalized medicine

DNA sequencing is on the path to becoming an everyday tool in life-­ science research and medicine. Institutions are beginning to sequence patients’ genomes in order to customize care according to their genetics. This type of personalized medicine will lead to substantially improved

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­ utcomes and lower health-care costs. Instead of costing hundreds of milo lions of dollars and taking years to sequence a single human genome, now a population-scale sequencing platform has been recently created, which can sequence over 18,000 genomes per year at a cost of approximately $1000 per genome. Sequencing is no longer something only big companies and international consortia can afford to do. Now, thousands of bench-top sequencers sit in laboratories and hospitals across the globe.

The “Dark Side” The old battle-line between “personalization” or “decentralization” versus “centralized control” appears to be further reinforced with the anticipated technology progression. Trends towards smaller and increasingly low-cost technologies (the impacts of Moore’s law) aid their uptake and distribution and hence the personalization and decentralization of these emerging technologies and systems. The technologies that enable increasing personalization of products and services also bring the clear ability of entities that control the technology to observe and collect detailed personal information and make this available to others. The contradictions are growing sharper between trends towards personalization and decentralization of technology on the one hand and increasing centralization and control by governments and states on the other. Not just governments and states are gaining the ability to conduct widespread surveillance and control through disruptive technologies. The recent scandals involving Facebook have highlighted how technological change has created new global corporate monopolies whose interests span what was previously a number of industries (broadcasting, telecommunications, publishing). The mass-scale collection, collation and sale of personal data is key to the business model of many of these corporations. Is the future an Orwellian-type “surveillance society” or a more horizontally networked “global village”? Many of the technology “dark side” prophecies and fears, related to privacy issues, the loss of personal control and even enslavement of society by technology are based on this aspect of coming technologies (Stanley 2014; Michaels 2014; Eldred 2014; Karp 2014). And what are the gender ramifications of disruptive technologies? We are told that women may soon bid farewell to existing methods of birth control and welcome a new type of contraception in the form of microchip implants with a remote (wireless) control that allows them to halt or

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restart the implant whenever they like. The technology includes secure encryption to prevent outsiders from blocking or reprogramming the implants wirelessly. As an added precaution, the remote control can only communicate with the microchip implant across a distance equivalent to skin contact (Kinkead 2014). Can this new application for microchips potentially revolutionize the level of control women have over their reproductive functions? Or is this another example of intervention and control over women’s bodies by what has been considered to be, by many feminists, a “patriarchal” scientific establishment? There are some good reasons for scepticism. Firstly, existing birth control technology—without implanted microchips—is not universally accessible. Furthermore, there is a long history of governments, Western aid donors and the medical establishment attempting to control poor women’s fertility motivated by neo-Malthusian ideologies that blame overpopulation for poverty, when it is actually caused by economic inequality both within and between nations. This has often gone along with sexist, racist and class-based assumptions that women don’t use available reproductive technology because of lack of education. This ignores reasons why women might choose to have large families, including economic advantages that come from large families in some forms of agrarian society, high infant mortality rates and cultural factors, such as women’s social status being tied to motherhood. Patriarchal family structures that disempower women from making reproductive choices can also be an issue. Has the optimism amongst some feminists, influenced by the dawn of the digital age and the development of information and communication technology, with its potential to empower women and transform gender relations, been realized? Thirty years since the publication of Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto”, in 1985, it is important to assess the gender ramifications of disruptive technologies.

Bibliography Eldred, Michael. 2014. Are We Enslaved by Technology? IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Winter, Vol. 33, No. 4. Evans, Robert John. 2014. Discussion Notes on ‘Disruptive Technologies’. Karp, Jann. 2014. GPS in Interstate Trucking in Australia: Intelligence, Surveillance—or Compliance Tool? IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Summer, Vol. 33, No. 2. Kinkead, Gwen. 2014. MIT Technology Review. http://www.technologyreview. com/news/528121/a-contraceptive-implant-withremote-control/.

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Manyika, J., et al. 2013. Disruptive Technologies: Advances That Will Transform Life, Business, and the Global Economy. McKinsey Global Institute. https:// www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/ disruptive-technologies. Michaels, Katina. 2014. Enslave. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Winter, Vol. 33, No. 4. Neussner, Olaf. 2014. Assessment of Early Warning Efforts in Leyte for Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Manila, Philippines, May 2014, 2nd ed. Rundle, Guy. 2014. A Revolution in the Making: 3D Printing, Robots and the Future. Melbourne: Affirm Press. Stanley, J. 2014. Personal Rights in the Age of Omnipresent Cameras. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Summer, Vol. 33, No. 2. Stewardson, M.J., D.  Skinner, M.  Ayre, S.  Barlow, B.  Cook, B.  Farquharson, S. Fuentes, L. Godden, D. Karoly, J. Langford, V. Nemes, R. Nettle, M. Peel, V.  Pettigrove, I.  Rutherfurd, D.  Ryu, K.  Saleem, P.  Scales, M.K.  Soltanieh, A.  Webb, A.  Western, and E.  Weyer. 2014. Water Productivity Blueprint. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne. UNDP. 2004. Gender & Energy for Sustainable Development: A Toolkit and Resource Guide. New York: United Nations Development Program. York, Richard. 2012. Do Alternative Energy Sources Displace Fossil Fuels? Nature Climate Change 2: 441–443. www.nature.com/natureclimatechange.

CHAPTER 4

Gender-Inclusive Energy: The Nepal Case

Abstract  The Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), Nepal, provides an important real-world example that illustrates the role that governments can and do play in spawning technological development for socio-economic benefits, including addressing social and gender equity issues related to differential access to energy-based technologies. The AEPC is a special case as an institution in the energy sector, because it attempts to address social and gender equity considerations in the development of the renewable energy sector in Nepal and in the delivery of renewable energy technologies and services to rural communities.

The Subsidy Policy for Renewable Energy The Rural Energy Policy, adopted by the government in 2006, has been the main policy document for the renewable energy sector in Nepal. Socio-economic goals and objectives are central aspects of the policy. A core policy commitment is that “promotional activities will be implemented that emphasize access to rural energy and role of rural energy in sustainable development, poverty reduction and positive impacts on women and children”. Under subsection on “resource mobilization”, there is a commitment to “the representation of women” in the “formation of user and community organizations”, as well as in “community mobilization” activities linked to the projects. Another policy position states: “Women’s development … programs, which are conducted at the © The Author(s) 2020 R. Mohideen, Women and the Energy Revolution in Asia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0230-9_4

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local level will be implemented by integrating [them] with the rural energy development programs” and that “rural energy is directly linked to activities traditionally carried out by the women” and, therefore, “programs of rural energy technology will be implemented considering it as an integral part of … women’s enabling activities”. Women’s “traditional” activities in the context of Nepal would typically be housework involving collection of fuelwood for cooking and heating, and collection of water for household activities. The policy support for the introduction of smoke-free and fuel-efficient cook stoves is an example of how “rural energy is directly linked to traditional activities carried out by women”. Women’s income generation activities would typically include agro-­ processing (milling and grinding of seeds and grain), cottage industries (such as weaving of cloth, making rope and soap), sewing, food processing and production, microenterprises for selling food and horticulture (poultry). Policy support for “programs of rural energy technology … as an integral part of … women’s enabling activities” provides opportunities for mechanization of these activities, for example, as well as providing lighting and the introduction of ICT technologies. This would “enable” women to reduce the time and (often back-breaking) labour spent on housework and improve the productivity of women’s labour and enterprises. The AEPC describes this as “productive energy use”, which is a key aspect of its national programme. The policy aims to provide women and men access to information and communication, and break down the isolation of rural women: providing them with a keener understanding and awareness of available opportunities, health information and other educational information, as well as raising possibilities of different gender roles and increasing the options and choices available to rural women. The following technologies are promoted: • micro and small hydropower for electrification, irrigation, education, health, drinking water, small-scale industry; • biogas systems for households, community and institutions; • biomass energy and biomass gasification technology, based on traditional sources, such as wood for fuel (fuelwood), paddy husks, saw dust and agricultural residues; • solar technology for lighting, irrigation, health, drinking water, communication, drying and cooking;

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• wind energy, with a focus on initiating data collection and the preparation of a wind energy master plan; • improved cook stoves that are smokeless and fuelwood efficient; • improved water mills, by mechanization of the existing traditional water mills used for hulling and grinding; and • rural electrification by improving community access to the national grid, through leasing arrangements, dual tariff systems and other mechanisms to increase energy consumption in agriculture, irrigation, drinking water, and small and cottage industries. The policy further promotes decentralization of renewable energy programmes based on community ownership and management of systems of up to 1 MW capacity. There are also provisions for the formation of special community-based organizations to facilitate this. Policy support for human resource management at the local level is also spelled out: “Arrangement will be made for training and skill development to the rural energy users to operate, maintain and manage the rural energy systems”. The Subsidy Policy for Renewal Energy 2013 and the Renewable Energy Subsidy Delivery Mechanism 2013 are key policy documents guiding the implementation of renewable energy projects. The purpose of these policies is to address problems of differential access, based on remoteness, gender, ethnic, caste and other social inequities, in order to promote the uptake of renewable energy technologies in rural poor communities. From 2009 to 2011 there was a 187% increase in installed capacity of micro-hydro systems coinciding with the introduction of the subsidy policy in 2009. Some of these policies have since been revised. Most notably, some subsidies are no longer targeted. While targeting of subsidies has been promoted as a way of increasing social equity objectives in development, there is a counter-argument that the more universal social-protection systems are, the more redistributive their impact. They describe the “paradox of redistribution” in which the Western welfare regimes that targeted the poor most heavily actually turned out to have redistributed much less than expected. Scandinavian countries stand out as the most effective in reducing poverty and inequality because they provide large, universal and decommodified services (Lavinas 2013). Key social objectives of the Subsidy Policy for Renewable Energy 2013 included the following policy objectives:

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• To increase access of renewable energy technologies to low-income households by reducing the initial upfront cost • To maximize the service delivery and its efficiency in the use of renewable energy resources and technologies in the rural areas, … and minimize regional disparity • To support use of energy for productive purposes, thereby creating rural employment and enhancing livelihood for rural people, particularly women, poor and socially excluded groups, and other vulnerable communities • To reduce the growing gap of electricity supply and consumption between rural and urban areas • To encourage rural households in the use of renewable energy services, thereby contributing to better health and education for people Households and communities living in “very remote areas”, classified as Village Development Committee A,1 and “remote areas”, classified as Village Development Committee B, received higher levels of subsidy than areas which are classified as “accessible”, that is, Village Development Committee C. The “additional subsidy” category applied exclusively to socially disadvantaged groups, such as marginalized castes and ethnic communities, as well as households headed by women. For example, households in very remote communities connected to small hydro systems received a subsidy, and an additional 10% subsidy was received if the household was headed by women. Solar PV pumps for pumping water, which are managed by the community, receive a subsidy of up to 70% to cover upfront costs and households headed by women qualified for an additional subsidy. Single women wanting to start or develop small enterprises could also receive an additional subsidy, provided the enterprises use energy from renewable sources. Through the provision of such “additional subsidies”, the policy promoted a progressive system of subsidies, explicitly weighted towards enabling the most deprived, particularly rural poor women, to access renewable energy technologies. While wind or solar-wind hybrid systems are subsidized, there were not any additional subsidies or measures to prioritize the targeting of women and marginalized groups. A special fund, the Central Renewable Energy 1

 Constituted under the Local Self-Governance Act, 1999. Section 12.

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Fund has been set up to supervise and disburse the subsidies, as well as to provide additional cheap credit, easily accessible, to poor communities. AEPC Assistant Director Rudra Khanal points out, however, that the subsidy policy dealt with only one aspect of the access problem, albeit a very important one, which is to address gender and social differentials in relation to affordability.2 There are aspects of differential access related to gender inequities other than cost that also need to be addressed, for example, technical training to manage and operate the system.

Gender “Mainstreaming” The AEPC’s conceptual understanding of gender is elaborated in the organization’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Mainstreaming Plan. Many of the concepts are in keeping with internationally accepted definitions and descriptions of gender. What is distinctive is that the concepts and definitions have been adapted to the Nepali context and that attempts have been made to provide “working” definitions or formulations suited to the needs of the country’s energy sector (Table 4.1). The concept of gender equity and social inclusion, that is, the combination or integration of gender and social inclusion, is unique to the experience of Nepal. It draws from the understanding that gender is not homogeneous and is mediated by other social factors experienced by women in their everyday lives, such as class, ethnicity and race. In the context of Nepal, a key factor that affects women’s lives is the Hindu caste system, and the discrimination against lower caste women and men, within a system of traditions that essentially prohibits them from participating fully in society. This understanding of the intersecting impacts of different discriminatory hierarchies was codified in the organizations subsidy policy for renewable energy. This idea is encapsulated in the concept of “intersectionality”, defined in the AEPC strategy as “[v]arious biological, socio-­ cultural, geo-ecological categories such as gender, class, caste/ethnicity, religion, ability, sexual orientation, geographical remoteness and other axes of identity interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic social exclusion and discrimination. Because of the

2  Statements made by Rudra Khanal, Assistant Director AEPC and head of the GESI unit, in an interview with the author conducted at the AEPC headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, in March 2013.

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Table 4.1  Summary of AEPC GESI concepts Gender

“Gender” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society appropriates for women and men. “Sex” cannot be changed or exchanged; but “gender” can be changed over time and space, and exchanged between women and men. Gender equality The absence of discrimination on the basis of gender… It is the full and equal exercise by women and men of their human rights. Gender equity Gender equity is a set of actions, attitudes and assumptions that provide opportunities and create spaces for individuals or groups of hitherto disadvantaged women and men. In Nepal’s case, women as a whole are in a disadvantageous position due to a patriarchal super-structure overarching socio-cultural, economic, political and legal structures. Intersectionality Various biological, socio-cultural, geo-ecological categories such as gender, class, caste/ethnicity, religion, ability, sexual orientation, geographical remoteness and other axes of identity interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic social exclusion and discrimination. Because of the interplay of gender and other intersectionalities women fall into the trap of double jeopardy or multi-jeopardy. Gender Discrimination against a person based on her/his gender. Gender discrimination discrimination against women occurs just because they have a female body. Gender is non-permanent; hence gender discriminatory attitude and behaviour against women can be changed. Caste A system of advantage based on caste, which accepts the subordination discrimination of those who are of low caste by those who are of a higher caste. Social exclusion The practice of excluding a group of people and/or individuals from social relations and institutions and preventing them from full participation in the normal, normatively prescribed activities of the society where they live. Social inclusion The removal of institutional and social barriers and the enhancement of incentives to increase the access of diverse individuals and groups to development opportunities Mainstreaming The process of assessing the implications for women and men belong to different class, castes, ethnicity, religion, and geo-ecology of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s and men’s concerns and experience an integral dimension in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres, such that inequality between women and men within any section of the society is not perpetuated. (continued)

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Table 4.1 (continued) GESI analysis

Analysis of differential roles, responsibilities, needs and interests of women and men belonging to different social intersections and to examine the relations between women and men pertaining to power, access to and control over resources, and decision-making in an exercise of human rights. GESI responsive Become familiar with the intersectional barriers, be responsive to overcome these barriers by developing strategies to ensure that the barriers are eliminated and fair treatment, equal rights, and equal access to and control over the resources/ benefits/opportunities are ascertained.

interplay of gender and other intersectionalities women fall into the trap of double jeopardy or Multi-jeopardy”. Interestingly the AEPC has also included geographical remoteness, as a contributing factor, in the exclusion and disadvantage faced by men and women in remote rural communities. Studies by feminist geographers who analyse the specialized nature of gender, race and class, could be instructive here. What is important for the AEPC, however, is to have a useful “working” definition of gender equity in order to develop the renewable energy sector and in the medium term contribute to solving the chronic energy crisis facing Nepal, as well as the associated problems of differential access to energy services. In relation to this the explanation of the concept of “mainstreaming” is useful, that is, as a “process of assessing the implications” for women and men, as well as “a strategy for making women’s and men’s concerns and experience an integral dimension”, “from design [to] implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs”. Key social and gender equity concepts used by the AEPC include defining “gender” as the “socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society appropriates for women and men”, as opposed to “sex”, which is biologically defined. “Gender equality” is defined as “the absence of discrimination on the basis of gender, the full and equal exercise by women and men of their human rights”. “Gender equity” is defined as “a set of actions, attitudes, and assumptions that provide opportunities to and create spaces for individuals or groups of hitherto disadvantaged women and men. In Nepal’s case women as a whole are in a disadvantageous position due to a patriarchal

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s­uper-­structure overarching socio-cultural, economic, political and legal structures”. “Gender discrimination” is defined as “discrimination against a person based on her/his gender. Gender discrimination against women occurs just because they have a female body. Gender is non-permanent; hence gender discriminatory attitude and behaviour against women can be changed”. The definition of “caste discrimination” is: “[a] system of advantage based on caste, which will treat as subordination of low caste people by high caste people”. “Social exclusion” is the “practice of excluding a group of people and/ or individuals from social relations and institutions and preventing them from full participation in the normal, normatively prescribed activities of the society in whereby they live”. “Social inclusion” is the “removal of institutional and social barriers and the enhancement of incentives to increase the access of diverse individuals and groups to development opportunities”. “Mainstreaming” is defined as the “process of assessing the implications for women and men belonging to different class, castes, ethnicity, religion, and geo-ecology of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s and men’s concerns and experience an integral dimension in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and social spheres, such that inequality between women and men within any section of the society is not perpetuated”. Other key concepts include: • “analysis of differential roles, responsibilities, needs and interests of women and men belonging to different social intersections and to examine the relations between women and men pertaining to power, access to and control over resources, and decision making in an exercise of human rights”, and • becoming “familiar with the intersectional barriers, be responsive to overcome these barriers by developing strategies to ensure that the barriers are eliminated and fair treatment, equal rights, and equal access to and control over the resources/benefits/opportunities are ascertained”.

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These social and gender equity concepts and definitions adopted by the AEPC go well beyond any understanding of gender and social issues and their links to energy services found in most energy agencies in South Asia and around the world. They set a regional and even an international benchmark for incorporating gender and social equity considerations for organizations working in the energy sector to learn from and even to emulate.

Some Examples of Challenges in Implementing Policy Examples given in focus group discussions illustrate some of the problems faced. The group included technical experts from the AEPC’s biomass, community electrification, solar, wind and “productive energy use” working groups. The Programme Officer for Community Electrification, Tilak Limbu, discussed the problems faced in meeting targets for recruitment of women operators for small hydro systems. “There are very few females, 2 or 3 female operators, out of 500 to 600 schemes [or projects]. There are a number of reasons [for this]. The power houses are located in lonely areas, as typically they have to be situated close to river banks, usually located away from the village centre. They have to be there during the night. Also, there is wide-spread [community] perception that women cannot do all this electrical stuff … connections, carrying big loads. Women [also] have more responsibilities in the household. She has to take care of a lot of things in the home.” Caste issues also pose problems. The tradition is that members of the untouchable caste cannot enter the homes of members of a higher caste. This has posed problems for members of the “lower” caste, who have been trained in the installation of household energy systems, such as wiring, installation of improved cook stoves, electrical repairs and maintenance, in providing the required services and practising their skills. A commonly held view among the participants is the need to raise both the technical capacity and the social awareness in the communities. Rudra Khanal agrees with this assessment. He reasons that the very low levels of socio-economic development in remote communities and low capacity pose problems in implementation. He also argues that the technology itself needs to be modified, to make it more accessible for the very poor and remote communities: “Poor people move around a lot. So the technology, such as improved cook stoves, biogas systems and even solar panels, need to be portable”.

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A Case for Decentralized Systems AEPC policy converges with studies that argue for policy support to massively scale up investments in smaller, decentralized systems. The policy is also committed to a strategy of subsidies to support the uptake of renewable energy technology by the rural poor. Through the provision of such “additional subsidies”, the policy promotes a progressive system of subsidies, explicitly weighted towards enabling the most deprived, rural poor women and women in disadvantaged groups, to access renewable energy technologies. While the AEPC can and does take measures to increase the awareness of its staff, through training and other capacity building activities, there are factors that are beyond its control. This includes the very low level of socio-economic development in remote communities, exacerbated by the need to have these very communities manage, operate and maintain the renewable energy systems. In some instances, these communities have had little or no experience dealing with governments, their laws and regulations, or with market relations, let alone new energy technologies. Other issues broadly cover human resource management problems, such as the lack of availability of skilled and experienced staff for recruitment and, once recruited, a high turnover of skilled staff leaving for greener pastures, thus causing difficulties of staff retention. Given these significant and multidimensional constraints, the argument that when it comes to social impacts the results can take time and cannot be seen immediately has much in its favour. Can technologies be adapted to suit these conditions? The AEPC argues that they must. They need to be portable, for example, to suit the remoteness and the patterns of movement and mobility of poor rural communities. And they need to be “gender-friendly”—that is, having intrinsic benefits in gender equity—to suit the needs of the rural poor, and women end-users. Improved cook stoves are considered to be inherently “gender-­ friendly” as they cater to women users with potential benefits such as improved health outcomes. Domestic biogas systems are also considered to be “gender-friendly”, as they can be operated from the home, and can link up with the agricultural residues and inputs associated with women’s labour, such as animal dung from animal breeding and household waste management and treatment. This view, that some renewable energy technologies are inherently “gender-friendly”, or have inherent gender benefits, is an important one and needs to be investigated further.

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The AEPC case also provides some insights to inform the contradictions between centralized governments and their attempts to control planning, governance and societal processes, and communities and individuals, attempting to assert greater control over their lives in decentralized and private spaces. The AEPC planning takes place at a central level, albeit through a process of consultation, with stakeholders from national to the district and even village level. Nevertheless, the end result is a central plan. The central plan, however, is highly dependent on decentralized modalities of operationalization. The contradictions and tensions between the agendas of centralized governments and attempts by individuals and communities to control their own lives in private and local spaces, enabled and driven by technology innovation, is a question for future research.

Technology Uptake There is a strong correlation (R ~ 0.9) between the technology deployed, measured in number of units as a percentage of the overall target, and subsidies disbursed, measured as a percentage of the budget allocation. This is an indication that targeted subsidies can significantly influence the uptake of technologies, especially in low-income and below poverty line communities (Fig. 4.1). Sex-disaggregated data has also been compiled for the ownership of technology distributed under the national program. This shows a low percentage of female ownership of small solar home systems that could be related to the low levels of subsidy disbursement for this technology. Conversely, the near-achievement of the target for female ownership of the larger solar home systems could be related to the overachievement of disbursement of the budgeted subsidy amount. This suggests that subsidies do work in favour of female ownership of these technologies. The low level of uptake of improved cook stoves by women, however, needs to be investigated further. The improved mud cook stoves, with no subsidy provided, went well over its annual distribution target (at 128%). The metallic cook stoves, with subsidies provided, achieved only 54% of the distribution target. The low level of subsidy disbursement for metallic cook stoves, at only 51% of budget disbursed, and the higher cost of the technology compared to mud cook stoves, could have been contributing factors in this case. The ownership of the cook stoves, however, is still heavily weighted towards men. Marginally more women own solar home systems (49%) than they do metallic cook stoves (47%).

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Fig. 4.1  Correlation between technologies/systems uptake and subsidies in Nepal (NRREP annual reports, July 2012–July 2015). (Source: Author)

Women who are economically more independent of their husbands also have the opportunity to purchase the technology of their choice. Miller and Mobarak (2013) in their study on how gender issues influence the uptake of improved cook stove technology in Bangladesh find that women lack the authority and the decision-making power to make the purchase, due to their low status in the household, despite their preference for healthier stoves. They assess that “[t]he key constraint is that one household member (the wife) benefits more from the new technology, but another household member (the husband) controls resources and spending decisions” (p.  3). Women’s low status and related lack of decision-­ making powers can impede the implementation of interventions that (are seen to) accrue greater benefits for women than for men. It will also be necessary to monitor how gender and “social inclusion” “intersect” in the evaluation of program results. A review of the AEPC biogas support program found a gap in biogas plant ownership, by gender and caste. While only 17.2% of the biogas systems were owned by women, this was distributed unevenly amongst castes and ethnic minorities. The gap in ownership was found to be 26.25 percentage points in favour of those

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belonging to the Brahmin upper caste and −7.42 percentage points against those belonging to the lower caste Terai communities. This also illustrates the fact that women are not a homogeneous grouping and that gender analysis has to take into account class, caste, ethnicity (and race) as determining social factors. A key recommendation of the review is revealing: the need to promote the technology as a “social product” in order to address the gender and social equity gaps in ownership (Tamrakar, unpublished). The data for domestic biogas ownership has been disaggregated by caste. The upper caste groupings—Brahman, Chhetri and Thakuri—own the largest percentage, 45%, of the systems installed. Dalits, or the “untouchables”, own only 2% of the systems installed. Women own 42% of the systems installed and it could be assumed that a large percentage of women owning the biogas systems belong to the upper caste groupings (Fig. 4.2). A more general question is also posed: What are the factors that impact on women’s uptake of new technologies? The data trends in this case indi-

Fig. 4.2  Uptake of new technologies in Nepal by ethnic and caste composition. (Source: NRREP Annual Report 2014–2015)

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cate that mitigating costs through subsidies could be a contributing factor in encouraging women to “take up” new technologies. This and other contributing factors are an area for further investigation. For example, in some rural communities in Nepal, kitchens are considered to be a “sacred ground”. How do such cultural factors, therefore, influence the penetration of new technologies in non-urbanized and rural communities? The AEPC has also identified ongoing problems in program implementation. The main one identified is the social equity challenge that continues to be posed, which is making renewable energy accessible to or “reaching” the poor, women and socially excluded groups (p. 24). The reason given is that the technology is expensive, and the corresponding subsidy levels are too low. This is an acknowledgement by the AEPC of the importance of subsidies and its ongoing commitment to the subsidy programme for the uptake of technology in rural poor communities, including women and socially excluded groups.

Gender Equity Benefits and Outcomes Financial One of the primary benefits of the AEPC micro-hydropower programme is providing lighting for rural households. A World Bank-AEPC-sponsored survey (Banerjee et al. 2011) evaluated the benefits of the AEPC’s micro-­ hydro electrification programme. When electricity is not available, the main source of lighting are kerosene lamps. The evaluation found that electricity was both a cost saving, and a much better quality of light than kerosene lamps. Overall, non-micro-hydro households spend about NRs.200/month on kerosene, while micro-hydropowered households spend NRs.154/month on electricity plus kerosene (at 2009 price estimates). If spending is calculated based on lighting intensity, the price paid for kerosene lighting is 400 times more expensive than micro-­ hydroelectricity (in NRs/klumen-hour/month at 2009 price estimates) (pp. 37–38). The evaluation also looked at economic outcomes: farm, non-farm, and total income and expenditure (all in per capita measures). It found that micro-hydro connectivity increased household’s non-farm income by 11% and expenditures by 9%. It also found that the gain in non-farm incomes, however, was not enough to result in a significant gain in total income. It concludes that significant impacts on economic outcomes could take some

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time to register: “As the consumption level of MH [micro-hydro] electricity is low and mostly used for lighting, it may take a while for MH to have a robust impact on economic outcome” (p. 41). Such findings give added importance to attempts made under the AEPC’s national program to develop local economies through interventions that promote “‘productive energy use”, such as small enterprise development and similar activities. Perhaps more significantly, they also indicate that in providing electricity access, we need to consider solutions that go “beyond the light bulb” and provide threshold levels of energy consumption that can have meaningful socio-economic impacts. An assessment of the AEPC’s Rural Energy Development Program (1996–2011), conducted by Winrock International Nepal (2008), made “before and after” assessments of impacts in REDP program sites, using surveys and focus group discussions. It found that over the period 1996– 2005 the average household income in communities covered by the program increased in real terms by 52% (NRs 48,000 to NRs 73,000), compared to a national average of 46%. The proportion of households with an annual income of less than NPR 10,000 (the poverty line defined by the government and applicable at the time) decreased from 15% to 12%. Share of households with an annual income of more than NRs 100,000 increased significantly from 9% to 24% (pp. 30–31). It also found that households experienced kerosene savings of 54%, and a 23% reduction in diesel consumption. The study concluded that poverty had been “marginally” reduced in households benefiting from the program. A case study of the programme by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP-AEPC 2012) found that 264 new energy-based microenterprises were established under the Rural Energy Development Program (1996–2011). On average, three people gained direct employment from each 25 kW MHP installed (pp. 10–11) (Fig. 4.3). Access to television health programmes requires household access to electrification. This is also related to the income status—a larger percentage of households in the central and western regions have higher mean incomes and thereby have better access to electricity. Education Banerjee et  al. (2011) find that educational outcomes “can probably accrue faster than … other outcomes” (p. 41). Students study for longer hours in micro-hydro connected households due to electric lighting and

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Fig. 4.3  Regional trends for skilled provider–assisted delivery and TV access for health information. (Source: DHS Survey, 2011. http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/ pdf/FR257/FR257%5B13April2012%5D.pdf. Accessed April, 2014)

have the potential to perform better at school, compared to non-micro-­ hydro households. Girls study longer hours in micro-hydro electrified households across all grades. For boys this pattern applies in the lower grades, but both girls and boys do better for study time in the evenings compared to their counterparts in non-micro-hydro households. The educational outcomes of boys (years of schooling completed), however, are slightly better than that for girls regardless of micro-hydro connectivity. Girls in micro-hydro electrified households have completed more years of schooling compared to their counterparts in non-micro-hydro households. The difference for girls is significant (4.28 and 3.73 years), compared to the difference for boys (4.53 and 4.12  years). The evaluation concludes that micro-hydro connectivity improves children’s education (Table 4.2). The number of students per primary school teacher is lower in schools with electricity than in schools without electricity. Communities with electricity are better able to attract and retain teachers due to better living and working facilities, and student-to-teacher ratios are much lower. Results of

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Table 4.2  Impact of micro-hydro (MH) access on educational outcomes (ages 5–18) Variables Evening studies (minutes/day) Boys time spent Girls time spent Schooling years completed Girls Boys

MH-connected HH

Non-MH HH

50.1 39.7

33.9 30.0

4.28 4.53

3.73 4.12

HH = households Source: Banerjee and others (2011)

the survey showed that primary schools with electricity average 16 students per teacher, compared to 33 students per teacher in schools without electricity in non-electrified areas (17 fewer students per teacher). The situation is also better for schools without electricity but located in electrified areas, which average about 22 students per teacher (11 fewer students per teacher). There are not enough government-funded teachers in Nepal. Therefore, community-level schools have the authority to hire additional teachers, part-time or temporary, according to their needs and resources. Electrified communities are preferred by teachers (UNDP-AEPC 2012). Health Banerjee et al. (2011) found that improvements in respiratory and gastronomical health are the two major health outcomes affected by micro-­ hydro connectivity. The evaluation found that the differences in health outcomes for respiratory illnesses between micro-hydro connected households and non-micro-hydro households were significant for women and children, more for girls than for boys, but not so significant for men. This is probably because women spend more time indoors and in kitchens, with their children around them, and they are affected by indoor air pollution from the burning of biomass fuels (Table 4.3). Adult women in non-micro-hydro households suffer almost double the number of hours (9.7 hours per month) from respiratory ailments compared to women from micro-hydro connected households (5.1 hours per month). In the case of girls (less than 18 years old), the difference is almost sixfold: girls in non-micro-hydro households suffer 8.2 hours per month from respiratory problems compared to 1.3  hours per month for their counterparts in micro-hydro connected households.

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Table 4.3  Impacts of MH Access on HH health outcomes (hours per month) Respiratory outcomes

MH HH

Non-MH HH

Women (age => 18) Men (age => 18) Girls (age