Women and G20: Why gendering clean energy and debt treatment is important for inclusive multilateral governance?

1. Women's economic empowerment

2. Women and Natural resource management

3. Women and renewal energy

4. Women and infrastructure

5. Women and digital economy

 

Gendering clean energy 
Transition to clean energy is important to achieve net zero emissions, а clean and healthy environment and to meet rising energy demands sustainaby. But while developing and emerging economies will contribute to around 70% of the global increase in energy demand, they have not seen а concomitant increase in clean energy investments (IEA, 2021). Lack of investments mean that the расе of clean energy transition in these economies will bе slow. 

Around 2.8 billion peopLe do not have access to clean cooking technologies, particularly in rural sub-Saharan Africa and Asia-Pacific. 

Who suffers the most due to the reLiance оп uncLean sources of energy? lt is women and girls, often tasked with household responsibllities who suffer the most. Lack of clean energy affects every facet of а women's life, bе it their economic, educational, security or health prospects. Cooking with kerosene or coal stoves leads to increased pollution exposure among women and puts them at а high-risk of household­pollution linked deaths or diseases. Dependence on time-consuming traditional sources of energy impinges оп women's economic productivity and educationaL opportunities. Some evidence indicates that women face the risk of sexuaL vioLence when collecting fuelwood at night. Hence, it is quite evident that without linking gender and energy concerns, we cannot achieve gender equality. For lndia this means ensuring proper representation of women while coordinating global strategies on clean energy financing within the G20. The World leaders at G20 should recognise women as workers, producers, farmers, as climate champions, and as entrepreneurs and ensure women are managers of energy and Ьу tapping into their knowledge, governments can have а better understanding of the weakness of the existing energy infrastructure (United Nations 2018). 

The gendered cost of debt crisis 
А severe debl crisis has engulfed the developing world, exacerbated Ьу the pandemic and the Russian invasion. Pandemic led to а decLine in the foreign exchange earnings of deveLoping economies due to fall in export revenue, tourism, remittances and foreign investments. While advanced economies like US have been аЫе to shore up the post-covid economic crisis Ьу heavy puЫic spending, developing economies cannot afford to do the same. ln many countries, the pandemic aggravated an already poor debl situation (Frankel 2020). The Russian invasion and supply chain disruptions led to high food and fuel inflation which the advanced economies dealt with Ьу hiking interest rates. This has raised the cost of borrowing for developing countries, made imports more expensive and spiralled them into deeper debl (United Nations 2022). 
As the developing world slides into а financial quicksand, how has this economic turmoil impacted women? There are multiple layers to this answer. Firstly, austerity measures have been gender-blind and hurt women more. The debl servicing conditions imposed Ьу IMF and World Bank leads to cuts in sociaL spending оп weLfare programs for chiLdren, eLderLy and women. This translates into increased care responsiblLities for women and puts their own 'welfare, nutrition and educational status' at risk (UNAIDS 2012, 6-8). Secondly, patriarchal norms and gender рау gap at the workplace imply that women are more prone to economic vuLnerablLity and job Loss during financial crisis. (UNAIDS 2012, 7) Thirdly, gender inequaLities get reinforced within househoLds. Meagre supplies mean that women end up prioritizing food access for male members and children (UNAIDS 2012, 8). Lastly, due to financial crunch, the immediate concern with reviving the economy tends to push women further out of the state's priority focus 
(UNAIDS 2012, 7). As the upcoming G20 president and а developing country itself, it is vital that lndia discontinues the Long tradition of gender-blind approaches in debt response. 
This is bу no means an easy task, given the tardy operationalization of existing G20 debl response frameworks i.e., Common Framework for DeЬt treatment beyond the DSSI. Al though it sought to build up on the deficiencies of Debl Service Suspension lnitiative (DSSI), one key lacuna i.e., enforcing the participation of private creditors has remained unresolved 
(Ahmed and Brown 2022). А big challenge for the lndian presidency is therefore to ensure that the deLivery of the common framework is made effective. Any reform of the framework should foremostly focus on mandating the participation of private creditors - the benefit of debl restructuring or deferral will Ье futile if the money saved goes to service the debl owed bу private creditors. 
Going over the history of G20, one can observe the prevalence of interest­based multilateralism. ln simple terms it means that major powers (US and EU) used G20 to fulfil their 'particular interests', instead of emphasizing on the 'common global responsiЬilities' of all states. Now, the chaLLenge for lndia is to buiLd back а 'norms-based muLtiLateraLism' (Jokela 2011). Ву bringing forth а gendered perspective on clean energy and debl treatment, lndia will have the opportunity to evolve а multilateralism that is inclusive and people-oriented.