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by Nozipho Ditlhale & Matthew Wright
Executive
Summary
Botswana society is mainly patriarchal and this has contributed to women being
left behind in terms of development when compared to their male counterparts.
While the government is committed to the principle of tackling gender
inequalities, in practice they still exist in key areas. Laws, derived mainly
from the Roman Dutch legal system, can reduce women to the state of minors under
their fathers’ or husbands’ care. The impact of this can be seen in property
acquisition, capacity to raise finance to operate a business, ownership of
assets, etc. It seems no coincidence that women are also most seriously affected
by poverty, although other factors also contribute to this situation. These
inequalities trickle down to household operations and can impact negatively on
issues such as modern energy acquisition and use.
The low level of participation of women in the energy policy and planning for
the long term works against them. It means that their energy needs do not reach
the planning level when policy is being formulated. It also impacts on the
projects and programmes that the government implements which are meant to
benefit the poor, who are predominantly in FHHs. The top management at Energy
Affairs Division, the body that is responsible for energy policy formulation and
implementation, are male.
The purpose of the study is to investigate gender related factors that influence
energy acquisition decisions for both households and businesses. To investigate
the issue in more detail, the following hypotheses were assigned for
investigation:
H1: Modern energy use is higher in households and communities where women are
key decision makers than in those where they are not.
H2: Modern energy use is higher in rural enterprises where women are key
decision makers than in those where they are not.
H3: Provision of modern energy to rural areas will enhance the chances of women
engaging in income generating activities.
Qualitatively, the disadvantaged position of women is clear. However, relevant
quantitative, micro data to support this appears to be missing. Information is
generally collected at the household level. While there is a presumption that
household heads will be responsible for making key decisions, including the
choice of energy option, this does not deal with questions of intra-household
distribution.
For H1 to be supported there must be clear indications that when men have
decision-making powers within the household they tend to exploit, to a greater
extent than female decision makers, the potential for free labour from other
household members in preference to the financial expense of acquiring and using
modern energy sources. Examination of the data revealed the following:
1. Household income is the most important determinant of energy choice: those
that chose modern energy were generally on higher cash incomes.
2. There is some support for H1. In particular, it seems that there is a
significantly greater tendency among FHHs to utilize modern energy once their
much lower average income levels are taken into account. This is further
supported by information on acquisition of traditional energy where FHHs are
more likely to pay for fuelwood.
3. There are several qualifications to this general conclusion. Unrecorded,
non-cash sources of income may affect FHHs households most. The slightly smaller
size of FHHs will, to the extent it reduces the household labour supply,
encourage substitution of modern energy. More generally, the quality of the data
may be questioned in some instances.
4. Information concerning decision making delegated to women in male-headed
households is ambiguous.
The preliminary investigation of H2 suggested that it was flawed in essential
respects. In particular it seemed at odds with basic considerations of rational
behaviour, a conclusion that was supported by an initial data review.
The major conclusion for H3 was that women do participate in income generating
activities if modern energy is provided in their area. This is evidenced by the
number of women in Letlhakeng village who run or own businesses which make use
of e.g. electricity, as compared to their male counterparts. However, it could
not be simply concluded that such energy provision was by itself sufficient to
significantly enhance income-generating opportunities.
The following recommendations are made:
1. Energy Affairs Division (EAD) does not seem to be aware that gender
inequalities can be counter-productive in their goal to provide energy to all
citizens. They need to be encouraged to look into providing favourable
conditions in their projects and programmes for poor FHHs in the rural areas to
acquire modern energy. Hence the need to mainstream gender in energy policy and
planning, as a means to ensure that women’s energy needs are taken into
consideration when implementing national energy programmes and projects.
2. The government should consider providing households with incentives to
encourage them to switch to modern and efficient forms of energy whether for the
household or for income generating activities. This might prove to be effective
in the context of on going efforts to identify ways to alleviate poverty in
Botswana. FHHs are worst hit by poverty, so targeting them with development
programmes can only lead to a better quality of life and sustainable
development, especially in the rural areas.
3. Non Governmental Organisations such as YWCA could help in providing business
training for disadvantaged women to help them improve their business or to start
new ones. Provision of modern energy alone cannot encourage women to become
involved in income generating activities. They need start up loans as well as
skills to run and sustain businesses.
However the tentative nature of these recommendations should be stressed, as the
research proved inconclusive in some important areas, given the data that was
available for the study. This in turn underlines the need to improve data
collection activities and undertake further research.
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