A conceptual analysis of gendered energy care work and epistemic injustice through a case study of Zanzibar’s Solar Mamas
Journal article, 2024

Energy and climate transitions bear an inherent risk of replicating historically embedded unjust gendered norms in the current energy regimes. Positioning our work within critical feminist scholarship, our study emphasizes the embedded nature of energy technologies within respective socio-economic, institutional and cultural contexts. We use a combined lens of care and epistemic injustice to examine the case study of Solar Mamas in Barefoot College Zanzibar, highlighting the nuanced interplay of power relations in decentralized energy transitions. This approach helps comprehend and value gendered energy care work as involving skilled labour in everyday life. Our findings illustrate the need for energy transitions research, policy and practice to be deeply informed by lived experiences, diverse practices of care within the energy webs and valuing of multiple voices. We argue that interventions prioritizing care and knowledge in decentralized, locally managed energy provisioning have the potential to disrupt established gender relations.

Author

Kavya Michael

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Environmental Systems Analysis

Helene Ahlborg

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Environmental Systems Analysis

Nature Energy

20587546 (eISSN)

Vol. 9 8 947-954

Subject Categories

Gender Studies

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

DOI

10.1038/s41560-024-01539-1

More information

Latest update

9/7/2024 4