This policy briefing draws on the findings of a discussion paper examining South Africa and
Rwanda’s efforts to include women in the renewable energy (RE) sector. A comprehensive gender mainstreaming toolkit was developed based on this research, which adopts a three-tier approach to
the various gaps identified in national, regional and global efforts seeking to improve the participation
of women in infrastructure development. Gender mainstreaming the African RE sector is an important opportunity to include women in infrastructure design, enabling their meaningful participation in and contribution to the energy industry. Unfortunately, engendering (ie, gender equality, gendered development and gender inclusivity) the energy value chain is not without its challenges and requires a multi-level set of short-, medium- and long-term interventions.
