Blog by the ACCESS team.

Across Africa, energy poverty remains one of the most significant barriers to inclusive development-and women carry the heaviest burden. While progress has been made in expanding electricity access, around 600 million people in Africa still live without electricity, and hundreds of millions more lack access to clean cooking solutions.
For women and girls, the consequences are immediate and deeply personal. In many households, women are responsible for gathering fuel, cooking, and managing household energy needs. As a result, women and girls spend hours every day collecting firewood and preparing meals using traditional fuels such as charcoal or wood.

This unpaid labour has enormous social and economic costs. Across Africa, according to the World Bank data, women spend up to 50 hours per week on tasks such as collecting fuel, cooking, and fetching water, limiting their opportunities for education, income generation, and leadership.

The health impacts are equally severe. Indoor air pollution from traditional cooking fuels contributes to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths annually in Africa, disproportionately affecting women and children who spend more time near cooking fires.
From the perspective of the ACCESS Coalition, these realities make one thing clear: energy access is also a gender justice issue. If Africa is to achieve universal energy access and a just energy transition, women must be placed at the centre of energy policy, investment, and implementation.

Encouragingly, several continental initiatives are now working to accelerate progress. Programs such as Mission 300, or M300-which aims to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030-represent an important opportunity to scale energy access across the continent. But electrification alone is not enough. Without deliberate gender-responsive approaches, large-scale initiatives risk reinforcing existing inequalities.

To truly work for women, energy initiatives must address three priorities.
First, clean cooking must be treated as a core energy access priority. Nearly a billion Africans still rely on polluting cooking fuels, and solving this challenge would significantly reduce women’s health risks and time burdens.

Second, women must be included as decision-makers and entrepreneurs in the energy sector. Today, women remain underrepresented in energy policy spaces and technical jobs, despite their central role as energy users and community leaders.
Third, energy investments must support productive uses that benefit women’s livelihoods, such as agro-processing, refrigeration, and small enterprises powered by reliable electricity.

At ACCESS, we believe that expanding energy access is not just about infrastructure-it is about people, participation, and equity. A just energy transition must amplify the voices of women, support women-led energy enterprises, and ensure that energy systems are designed around the needs of communities.

As we mark International Women’s Month, the message is clear: Africa’s energy transition will only succeed if it works for women-and with women.