Gendered energy poverty and energy justice in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between gender and energy poverty as a matter of energy (in)justice. Energy poverty is generally conceived of and measured at the household level, obscuring potential gender differences in the costs and benefits of energy and fuel usage and in access to energy services. Drawing on qualitative work with women, men and community leaders in a case study in rural Bangladesh, we show that men and women's energy poverty is different when assessed in terms of a multi-dimensional, service-based definition of energy poverty, and argue that along with the differential impacts of the use of traditional fuels, this constitutes gender-based distributional energy injustice. We further investigate how this injustice is connected to a lack of procedural energy justice and a lack of recognition for women, especially those living in rural poverty, at different scales of governance, from the household to national energy policy. We argue that an energy justice lens is valuable in analysing the gender-energy nexus to reveal its social dynamics, and in pointing to policy directions to ameliorate women's energy poverty that are beyond the solely technical.