The Sustainable Development Goals recognize the importance of both gender equality and energy access, and while the two are often discussed separately, they are inextricably linked. Women are almost always the primary managers of household energy in developing countries and spend a significant portion of their time ensuring that their families have the energy needed to cook, light, and heat their homes. Women are also key players in the dissemination and adoption of household energy technologies and fuels, and adoption of clean and efficient household energy solutions are a critical driver for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

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Women can be economically empowered through their engagement in the household energy sector – as designers, producers, distributors, and after-sales service providers. They can catalyze the market as clean energy entrepreneurs by leading efforts that seek to develop effective, culturally-appropriate, and sustainable solutions. Additionally, women’s networks can provide access to consumers in hard-to-reach markets and women distributors can better understand the needs of women and more easily approach their clients.

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This event will bring together key stakeholders to discuss women’s energy entrepreneurship and explore the role of gender-informed approaches that scale access to household energy, as well as increase gender equality and women’s empowerment.

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The event will convene practitioners, researchers, policy makers, donors, and entrepreneurs to share challenges, lessons learned, and best practices to support women energy entrepreneurs and scale household energy access approaches that leverage women’s entrepreneurship. It will highlight the latest research, innovative approaches, and technological solutions, as well as provide an opportunity for strategic discussion and planning to fill critical gaps and to advance the energy entrepreneurship and empowerment nexus.