Ellen
Fungisai
Chipango,
University
of
Johannesburg
Zimbabwe’s
2019
renewable
energy
policy
envisions
a
transition
to
green
energy
in
which
women
and
men
participate
equally
and
benefit
equitably.
But
the
real
test
of
this
promise
lies
in
whether
women
and
men
have
equal
access
to
renewable
energy
and
are
able
to
use
it
for
the
tasks
they
most
need
to
accomplish
in
their
everyday
lives.
As
an
energy
justice
researcher,
I
wanted
to
find
out
how
residents,
government
officials
and
energy
non-governmental
organisations
view
gender
(in)equality
in
the
move
to
green
energy.
I
chose
to
interview
people
from
Zingondi
(a
rural
area
in
the
Manicaland
province
of
Zimbabwe)
because
this
area
offers
a
clear
case
of
how
renewable
energy
policy
plays
out
in
low-income,
rural
areas
that
are
not
connected
to
the
national
grid.
I
asked
the
people
I
interviewed
what
a
truly
equal
and
equitable
energy
policy
would
look
like
in
practice.
By
equal,
I
mean
giving
women
and
men
the
same
opportunities
and
access
to
energy.
By
equitable,
I
mean
recognising
that
they
often
start
from
unequal
social
and
economic
positions,
and
that
women
may
therefore
need
additional
support
(funds,
training,
or
extra
decision-making
powers)
to
reach
the
same
level
of
energy
access
and
benefit
as
men.
There
are
about
39
households
living
in
Zingondi.
They
are
not
connected
to
the
national
electricity
grid.
To
cook,
they
use
fuelwood
and
what’s
left
after
crops
are
harvested
(biomass).
Many
families
live
in
thatched
mud
houses.
When
I
visited,
I
saw
that
all
families
used
solar
lanterns.
Some
also
had
solar
panels
to
charge
phones
and
radios.
My
research
found
that
having
such
limited
access
to
electricity
did
nothing
to
change
traditional
gender
roles
where
women
do
a
lot
more
unpaid
work
around
the
house
than
men.
For
example,
women
remained
primarily
responsible
for
cooking
on
fire.
They
also
had
very
little
control
over
new
forms
of
solar
energy
(what
to
buy
and
how
to
fix
it
if
it
broke)
as
these
decisions
and
actions
were
controlled
by
the
men
in
the
families.
Overall,
women
saw
little
change
in
their
economic
or
decision-making
power
even
though
clean
forms
of
energy
had
come
into
their
lives.
My
findings
show
that
even
new
renewable
energy
is
never
neutral.
It
is
shaped
by
power:
who
controls
resources,
who
captures
the
benefits,
and
who
remains
excluded.
Achieving
gender
equality
in
energy
transitions
needs
more
than
introducing
small
solar
devices
or
promising
future
grid
access.
Zimbabwe’s
energy
policies
must
move
beyond
promises
of
gender
equality
in
energy
access
and
deliver
real
transformation
on
the
ground.
The
country’s
renewable
energy
policy
commits
to
gender
equality
and
women’s
participation,
but
pays
less
attention
to
whether
this
is
taking
place.
If
this
change
does
not
happen,
new
energy
initiatives
will
simply
prop
up
existing
gender
hierarchies
which
leave
women
at
the
bottom,
rather
than
transforming
women’s
lives.
Solar
power
in
rural
Zingondi
Zingondi
is
a
resettlement
area
(where
land
was
redistributed
under
the
fast-track
land
reform
programme
to
small-scale
farmers)
whose
households
have
three
hectares
of
land
each.
Most
families
there
depend
on
small-scale
farming
to
grow
food.
But
they
face
problems
of
insecure
land
rights
(they
only
have
temporary
licences
to
occupy
the
land),
political
disputes,
and
limited
access
to
resources
to
develop
their
farms.
At
first
glance,
the
solar
lanterns
in
every
home,
purchased
by
the
residents,
indicate
that
universal
access
to
affordable,
reliable
and
modern
energy
is
being
achieved.
But
when
I
asked
women
how
solar
energy
had
improved
their
lives,
their
responses
were
cautious.
First,
many
women
were
still
cooking
with
firewood,
because
small
solar
devices
can’t
power
electric
stoves.
One
female
participant
observed:
When
I
am
cooking
using
semi-dried
wood,
no
one
can
even
enter
the
kitchen
because
of
the
smoke.
It
is
like
a
prison
cell!
Second,
they
had
little
decision-making
power
over
energy:
Solar
gives
men
more
power
to
control
us
in
the
home
…
if
it’s
not
the
money
to
buy
the
gadgets,
such
as
solar
lanterns,
it’s
how
to
use
them,
or
it’s
about
when
and
where
to
buy
a
replacement.
Third,
the
quality
of
solar
lanterns
varied.
Families
that
received
remittances
from
relatives
working
in
South
Africa
were
able
to
afford
higher-quality
appliances.
But
poorer
households
could
not.
Cheap
solar
lanterns
often
overheated
and
“blew”
after
a
short
time.
Paying
for
replacements
placed
financial
strain
on
many
women.
Fourth,
having
light
at
night
made
the
working
day
for
these
rural
women
even
longer:
Having
a
light
bulb
(solar
lantern)
means
more
work
to
cover,
not
to
relax.
The
reason
is:
I
am
a
woman!
Women
also
reported
that
their
husbands
did
not
allow
them
to
travel
to
renewable
energy
meetings
where
they
could
learn
more
about
solar
power.
Some
women
hid
small
amounts
of
money
from
their
husbands
to
avoid
conflict
or
to
retain
some
financial
autonomy
for
buying
electricity
later
–
known
in
ChiShona
as
kusungirira
mari
muchiuno
(“to
tie
money
around
the
waist”).
But
because
these
savings
were
hidden,
the
women
couldn’t
spend
them
on
larger
or
more
reliable
solar
energy
systems.
What
needs
to
happen
next
Zimbabwe’s
energy
transition
must
make
sure
that
women
are
not
just
passive
recipients
of
energy
infrastructure
but
active
participants
in
shaping
how
energy
is
accessed,
used
and
managed.
Women
begin
from
unequal
positions.
So
energy
policies
must
tackle
the
question
of
the
power
relations
that
shape
who
controls
resources
within
households
and
communities.
Zimbabwe’s
energy
policy
emphasises
women’s
inclusion
and
solar
entrepreneurship.
However,
its
largely
market-driven
approach
means
that
only
women
who
can
afford
solar
systems
benefit,
leaving
off-grid
and
marginalised
communities
like
Zingondi
excluded.
To
make
the
policy
truly
transformative,
the
government
could
take
these
steps:
-
introduce
targeted
subsidies,
micro
grants
or
low-interest
loans
for
rural
women -
support
community-shared
solar
schemes -
set
quotas
for
women
in
resettlement
areas
to
participate
in
renewable
energy
schemes -
convene
training
in
local
areas
where
childcare
is
provided,
so
that
women
can
participate -
set
up
mentorship
programmes
to
strengthen
women’s
leadership
and
decision-making -
implement
regular
monitoring
to
ensure
that
women
not
only
participate
but
also
gain
meaningful
control
over
energy
resources.
This
is
happening
in
other
countries.
In
rural
Bangladesh,
women
have
been
trained
as
solar
technicians,
and
in
Nepal,
women
have
taken
on
leading
roles
in
managing
tiny,
micro
hydro
plants.
In
India,
government‑linked
schemes
such
as
the
Ministry
of
New
and
Renewable
Energy’s
Women
in
Renewable
Energy
initiative
provide
training
and
business
support
that
expand
women’s
participation
in
the
energy
sector.
Unless
these
changes
are
made,
solar
energy
infrastructure
will
expand
in
rural
Zimbabwe
without
expanding
equality.
Ellen
Fungisai
Chipango,
Senior
Research
Associate,
University
of
Johannesburg
This
article
is
republished
from
The
Conversation
under
a
Creative
Commons
license.
Read
the
original
article.