When Women Power the World

April 13, 2015

Energy access is fundamental to development, yet 1.6 billion people in the world do not have access to electricity. That is one quarter of earth’s population in the 21st century. Seventy percent are women and girls, for whom darkness is not a figure of speech.

by Katherine Lucey, CEO

In this International Year of Light, they rely on harmful kerosene lanterns and candles. Without light, they are at greater risk of physical and sexual violence as they walk through dark, rural areas. Health care suffers, particularly maternal health and nighttime deliveries, and children are unable to study once the sun sets.

But the future is bright. Advances in portable clean-energy technology like solar, clean cookstoves, and mobile charging mean we already have the technologies required to leapfrog from the age of archaic kerosene cans to that of sustainable energy for all. We also have the tremendous power of women’s networks and ingenuity to light up the world.

Women and girls may be the most affected by the problem, but they are also the most effective at forging a solution.

Here are three powerful reasons why.

1. Women are master marketers

Most women are natural community builders, networkers, and storytellers — the key to successful marketing, especially direct sales marketing. In many developing world communities, women support each other through self-organized church groups, community groups, and savings groups.

They watch each other’s children, they loan each other money, and they are generous with the time they invest in their wider communities. They trust each other when they make recommendations about new products and technology.

Simply put, women are powerful mavens and marketers. They don’t market technology based on wattage; they market technology with the stories of how solar will allow their children to study at night and how clean cookstoves will allow them to feed their families without coughing over an open fire. They hold the key to addressing distribution gaps to ensure that modern energy gadgets reach the doorsteps of other women in the last mile who stand to benefit most from transformative technology.

2. Women are wise investors

As born entrepreneurs, women understand the multiplying effect of reinvesting their resources into their homes and families, particularly their family’s health, nutrition, and education — that of both the boys and the girls.

Take Rebecca, a rural farmer from Mpigi, Uganda. Rebecca chose to place the first solar light that she purchased from Solar Sister in her chicken room. She knows that chickens eat only when they can see, and by increasing the hours of light, her chickens ate more and became healthier. They laid more eggs, improving the economics of her operation and providing income that allowed her to buy seeds, and eventually a goat, pigs, and even a cow. From the simple improvement of a single light, Rebecca built a farm and eventually a school where she teaches children to read and write and how to do small-plot farming. With a little bit of light and opportunity, women like Rebecca have the power to improve their lives and their communities. This is at the heart of women powering the world.

3. Women work until the job gets done

It’s typical for a woman in the last mile in the developing world to be the primary caregiver and manager of her extended family and farm. She oversees her family’s education and health, and she is responsible for managing her household energy for lighting and cooking. Maybe this means walking hours each day to collect firewood for cooking, or maybe it means laboring on her small farm to sell vegetables roadside to earn money for a week’s worth of kerosene or her children’s school fees.

Slowing down isn’t an option — the livelihood of her extended family depends on her success. It is because of this drive and family dependency that women possess an innate understanding of how technology can improve their lives and a passion for promoting opportunity to other women.

Electrifying the developing world systematically starts at the household level — where women call the shots.

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Katherine Lucey is founder and CEO of Solar Sister. She was a Social Entrepreneur of the Year Awardee in 2015.

  
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a leading global platform that accelerates outstanding models of social innovation.