Women are struggling as fossil fuel has expanded and are now in the front line in fighting the global energy crisis but their contributions have remained unrecognised, they said. ‘We have to stay together. We have to raise our voice,’ said Zakia K Hassan, executive director, DIPTO, a non-government organisation.

In most cases, women face serious implications of the fossil fuel power plants as they do not migrate like their male counterparts, said the policy brief presented at the discussion. Women also face difficulties in mobility, personal health and hygiene and mandatory requirements due to the crowd of outsiders in the locality where a fossil fuel project is implemented, said the policy brief.

In programmes such as the Environmental Social Management Plan and the Corporate Social Responsibility the allocation for women was less than 1 per cent and the fund was spent on tailoring, goat rearing and poultry training programmes, ignoring women’s special needs such as reproductive health. The representation status of women in energy sector is understood with some data – women are often consulted in the formulation of Environmental Impact Assessment but still only 7.3 per cent respondents in EIAs were women, the policy brief said.

According to the policy brief, only 8.3 per cent of employees in fossil fuel companies are women, while in the decision-making stage women account for only 0.93 per cent. ‘Women are the immediate innocent victims of emissions from fossil fuel plants,’ said Hasan Mehedi, member secretary, Bangladesh Working Group on External Debt, who presented the policy brief. ‘Even then women are not entitled to compensation,’ he said. The speakers also pointed out the suffering women undergo in cities because of the energy crisis resulting in reduced piped gas supply. Over half of Bangladesh’s population is women.

News Link: Women empowerment stressed for energy sovereignty