Empowering rural women through energy: A development imperative

📅 Published: August 26, 2025

📰 Source: thestandard

Curated by AllZimNews.com

But for rural women, that phrase must take on deeper meaning.

It is not enough that power is available, it must be accessible, affordable, inclusive.

Rural women are often the invisible labor force: hauling water, cooking over wood fires, lighting kerosene lamps.

Each moment spent on these tasks is time taken away from education, entrepreneurship, or rest.

I’ve walked through villages where women would rise before sunrise to collect firewood, then shepherd children, and only later, in the dim glow of kerosene lamps, try to work, even their eyes strained.

Electricity is not just light, it is freedom.

It is the possibility that a girl can study after dark, that a mother can run a small sewing cottage, that water can be pumped, that health clinics can refrigerate vaccines.

When I lead project planning discussions at Power Giants, I remind our teams that each kilowatt is not just for industrial output, mit could be a student finishing homework, a midwife lighting the way, or a small entrepreneur powering her livelihood.

I often say: “Each meter we lay, each solar panel we install, lights not just a house, but hopes. ” So when we go into rural electrification projects, we always ask: Are there solar home systems for women-led households?

Are micro-enterprise hubs powered?

Are schools and community centers included?

Electricity, when done well, multiplies the earning potential of rural women by enabling micro-processing (like grain mills), preserving produce (through cold storage), and providing connectivity (charging mobile phones, accessing online markets).