Empowering women energy.

• Author: Misra, Neha
• Position: SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR ALL

Solar Sister is an award-winning social enterprise advancing women's entrepreneurship to bring off-grid electricity and clean cooking solutions to underserved communities across sub-Saharan Africa. Neha Misra, Solar Sister's Co-Founder and Chief Collaboration Officer shares insights on why achieving the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All objectives and women's empowerment are intrinsically tied together. prosperity has a female face. Every day, women around the world face the worst consequences of not having modern energy access. They spend more than 40 per cent of family income on inefficient and dangerous kerosene and candles for lighting. They walk long distances to collect firewood. They deliver babies in darkness, and they toil in smoky kitchens and venture out at night to use outdoor latrines without adequate light. Girls are left behind without educational opportunities due to the lack of reliable light. Ensuring that women and girls have energy access is not just about women's rights--it's a fundamental human rights issue. A number of quantitative and qualitative studies have shown that clean energy access is linked with better chances for girls to complete primary education and for women to earn better wages, while it also contributes to a reduction in gender-based violence. Ability to power mobile phones means better connectivity and better business opportunities.

What clean energy access can do for women is only half the story. There is a strong case for what women can do to expand clean energy access and to fight on the front lines against climate change. This is where Solar Sister is leading the way.

EMPOWERING WOMEN TO MEET THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR ALL (SE4ALL) OBJECTIVES

Solar Sister is eradicating energy poverty by empowering women through clean energy-driven economic opportunities. Solar Sister's market-based and woman-centred programme is bringing off-grid solar and clean cooking technologies to underserved communities across sub-Saharan Africa. Let's look at the multiple ways in which Solar Sister is strengthening women's role in meeting the SE4ALL objectives:

1. Empowering women as leaders. As a women-led social enterprise, Solar Sister has affirmed high-level support for advancing gender equality on the road to ensuring universal energy access. Katherine Lucey, Founder and CEO of Solar Sister, was recognized as Schwab Social Entrepreneur at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town in June...