International Women’s Day: Women and Energy Access

For over a century the world unites on March 8 to celebrate International Women’s Day and reclaim equality rights. Therefore today, in view of this celebration, we would like to use the occasion to assert the role that energy and access to it plays in improving the life of women.

Despite the tireless fight for gender equality, celebrations such as International Women’s Day continue to be needed. That is why the United Nations did not hesitate to include the goal of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls  in the Sustainable Development Goals that have been adopted for the 2030 agenda, with the objective of bringing discrimination and harmful practices like child and forced marriage to an end.

“Women must play an important role in making decisions concerning sustainable development.

Furthermore, the organization has backed new policies and laws that promote and work towards empowering women and girls at all levels, in such a way that they are able to play an important role in making decisions concerning sustainable development. This will allow improvement to be made equally, first of all when it comes to having access to energy and vital resources such as water (Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable and sustainable energy for all) and, at the same time, improving the quality of life of millions of women all over the world.

From ancient times, women have played an active role as energy managers in households where gender division is also found, is brought out in this UN report.

“One of the consequences of not having energy access is a greater difficulty in having access to education.

The truth of the matter is that women all over the world are suffering from not having access to these resources while it is women that are managing their use. This means that they often have to walk great distances to gather firewood or collect water. Their lives are endangered   as they have to use inefficient lighting such as kerosene. The lack of light limits their opportunities for education. Consequently, this leads to fewer work opportunities and greater difficulties in accessing education, training and so on.

In view of the above, days such as this one continue to be needed as a reminder that, although significant progress has been made, dealing with the challenges that remain is still required.

Marián Ariza, Abengoa Communication Department