September 2025 Newsletter
The Gendered Face of Rural Energy Poverty: Powering Futures Through Gender-Responsive Energy Finance
The sun rises slowly over the savannah near Tamale, Northern Ghana. Amina, a 32-year-old mother of three, is already on her feet. Before dawn, she wraps a faded cloth around her waist, ties a basket to her back, and sets off on a three-hour trek to gather firewood. Each year, the trees grow sparser and the journey longer. By the time she returns, the sun is high. Her arms ache, her eldest daughter has missed school to help, and the day’s work has barely begun. In the evening, smoke from the wood fire fills their small home. Her youngest coughs as she stirs porridge. Electricity is a distant promise; clean cooking is an unaffordable luxury. Amina’s story is not unique—it is the reality of millions of women across rural Africa, where energy poverty is not just an economic statistic but a daily negotiation of survival, time, and health. And yet, billions of dollars of clean energy finance are flowing across the world. The question is: whose futures are being funded?
Why this matters: gender, energy and inequality intertwined
Energy poverty in Africa is not gender-neutral. Across the continent, more than 2 billion people still lack access to clean cooking (IEA). Most of them live in developing Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This deprivation drives household air pollution, limits productive time, and affects women and girls most severely. As climate change accelerates, the burden deepens. UN analyses highlight that women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate-driven displacement—sometimes estimated as “four in five climate-displaced people”—though methodologies vary (United Nations). What is certain is that climate shocks compound gendered vulnerabilities. The economic toll is equally stark. Gender inequality is estimated to cost sub-Saharan Africa US $90–105 billion annually annually in lost productivity and growth (UNDP). When women like Amina spend hours collecting firewood instead of running businesses or going to school, entire economies lose. Energy poverty amplifies these gaps. And yet, solutions exist. Across East Africa, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar models like M-KOPA have reached millions, unlocking more than US $1.5 billion in credit and enabling women to become customers, entrepreneurs, and distributors (M-KOPA). These models show that when finance meets communities where they are, agency grows. The paradox is clear: global finance is accelerating, but unless it is designed with gender at the core, it will replicate old exclusions.
