Gender equality in the energy sector was the focus of a session at Clean Energy Week, with relevant actors lobbying for more to be done to mainstream the field and make it more inclusive.

According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), global energy employment reached 67 million people in 2022. This marks an increase of 3.5 million from pre-pandemic levels.

With this figure set to continue to rise, it is key that women benefit from the opportunities that emerge. This formed the foundations of Monday’s ‘Addressing the Gender Dimension in Clean Energy Sector’ session, as part of Clean Energy Week.

Tous Sophorn, an independent GEDSI consultant, said, “When we talk about the energy sector, we can see a gender gap. We see it’s a male-dominated sector, we don’t see many women. This is a gender gap seen in Cambodia and across the world.”

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According to figures from IEA, 76 percent fewer women work in the energy sector than men. In addition, the pay gap is dependent on the level of skills, with women on average earning 15 percent less than their male peers.

Women’s use of energy

“Women play a significant role in household energy use,” said Sophorn. “Studies show that their involvement in resource management can positively impact women and policy management.”

He added that a recent study highlighted that women’s energy decisions can reduce electricity bills up to 23 percent in female-headed households, supporting energy efficiency and sustainability.

“However, their participation and impacts have been less prioritized in sustainability concepts,” Sophorn added. “Women’s active participation and influence on social, economic, and environmental contexts are often ignored in energy-related decisions.”

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He noted that women have an essential role to play in the energy transition and energy efficiency in the household as they are the primary users. In general, they are housewives and stay at home to care for their children.

Sreylen Hak, of UNDP Cambodia, highlighted the important role electricity plays in elevating livelihoods. Under a UNDP program to electrify 500 million households worldwide by 2025, in the last few years it has rolled out two projects in Cambodia.

The first is a solar water pumping project, installing 67 devices for communities affected by natural disasters around the Tonle Sap. “This has built the capacity of people there to reduce vulnerability and ensure food security,” Sreylen said.

The second part of the project saw seven large-scale solar mini-grids implemented in 21 remote and isolated villages that had no access to electricity. This provided about 8,000 people, including 3,872 women, with access to electricity.

“Access to daily electricity has improved livelihoods and created business opportunities for women who stay at home to create more income for their family,” Sreylen noted.

She gave examples of women being able to run fridges from the solar grid, enabling them to sell drinks and food. Washing machines can also be run off solar, meaning laundry services can be offered.

The solar grids also increase safety at night for women by providing street lights, and give women access to information after dark by providing them with the means to watch the TV and use their phones.

“This reduces the burden for women in the home and gives women free time to join other activities to increase the income in the family,” Sreylen added.

Sreylen added that breaking down the access barriers for women is a necessary step. “Access to reliable electricity can transform women's lives by reducing the unequal burden of unpaid care and domestic work, such as by decreasing the time on cooking, cleaning and fetching water.

In conclusion, Shorrock said, “With equal access to opportunities and training, such as in digital and technical skills, women can be empowered to become leaders in Cambodia's clean energy sector.”

Gender mainstreaming the sector

Emily Shorrock, gender economist at UNDP Cambodia, noted that access to training and education is key to achieve gender equality. “In clean energy, there are so many areas with gaps in terms of skills and access to opportunities,” she said.

Emily added that within the sector, women tend to be in less paid roles, with upper-tier jobs dominated by men. “It’s unfortunate for women to be in positions that are more vulnerable to lay-offs, less fulfilling and less likely to get women out of poverty.”

She noted that women also have limited access to training. In 2020, during the pandemic, UNDP found there is a huge digital gap between young men and women in Cambodia.

“The key concern is to close this digital gap and make sure young women have the skills to thrive in the future of work and get into more tech- or STEM-related and green jobs,” Emily stated.

She added that to achieve this, it is essential that capacity training is delivered to even the remotest communities. In addition, more opportunities need to be created for internships in the field for women.

“Even women managers said they find it hard to thrive and rise in their job because there is such a high expectation for them to be quiet and kind. These conflict with the ability to be confident and assertive,” Emily added.

“What is key is to provide examples of strong and successful female leaders, and make sure that everything we do empowers how women view themselves and how society sees them.”

Dr. Ngin Chanrith, CDRI, Senior Research Fellow and Director of Centre for

Natural Resources and Environment, said the growth of employment in the clean energy sector offers an opportunity for women to capture green jobs.

“It needs training and education to ensure women have the knowledge base to capture clean energy and green jobs more than ever before. They say that women cannot take part in clean energy because they’re busy cooking and using wood in rural areas, so they lose opportunities to participate,” he said.

“Clean energy helps women save time and run small businesses. We also need to focus on gender norms. Women collect the wood and water and take care of the children. What about the men?”