Energy Poverty: The Silent Violence on Women and Children

Over 1.5 billion people (the energy poor) lack access to energy for cooking, illumination, clean drinking water, sanitation, household labor, and livelihood. The Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative of the UN attempts to address this challenge. While doing so it is important not to overlook the harsh fact that the burdens caused by the lack of energy fall most oppressively on women and children. For example, women who cook with children on their backs, are exposed to indoor air pollution, that causes 3.5 million premature deaths every year. In addition, 3.5 million made up largely of children, die every year from lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation. Moreover, women and children take on the grueling manual labor of pounding grain, carrying water and firewood over long distances, subsistence agriculture, and caring for livestock. The lack of illumination prevents women and children from educating themselves after nightfall, or engaging in any other productive activity.

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