IEEE White Paper

– Active. Energy policy is often formulated in a gender-neutral manner; that is, it is assumed by policy makers that women and men use and benefit equally from current energy systems. However, research shows that energy policy is, in fact, gender blind–policies are incorrectly considered neutral by policy makers since they ignore the differential impacts they have on different genders and socioeconomic and cultural groups. Based on such false assumptions, the policies are less effective and/or have unintended effects. This paper discusses these issues.