Gender inequalities span all aspects of our lives, and summer energy poverty is no exception. A year ago, on International Women’s Day, the European Parliament highlighted that mothers and single women are more likely to struggle to pay their energy bills compared to single men. The reasons behind this gap include a lower median income to women and a higher prevalence of poorly paid, part-time, or precarious work.
On the flip side, a survey conducted by the Barcelona Institute of Public Health revealed a striking disparity when it comes to maintaining a comfortable home temperature during warmer months. A staggering 86.1% of women responded with a “no” to the question of whether they can afford to keep their homes adequately cool, compared to only 11.3% of men. In essence, while 88.7% of men feel their homes can indeed be kept at a suitable temperature, only 13.9% of women share this perception. This overwhelming percentage underscores, at the very least, a glaring inequality in terms of subjective perception of wellbeing. Consequently, it highlights the increased vulnerability of women to the impacts of climate change, particularly in the Barcelona area where this survey was conducted, experiencing increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves in the summer as the years progress.
On the other hand, in their homes, women live with the contradiction of still feeling that they are primarily responsible for the wellbeing of the household, while at the same time, because of the tasks in which they have been socialised, they have the necessary tools and technical knowledge to carry out tasks such as the repair of small electrical appliances. This contradiction generates a great deal of frustration for them and requires social justice and empowerment measures to reverse it.
Women, especially single mothers, have been significant beneficiaries of workshops on energy culture and cooling tips organized as part of the Cooltorise project in the area of Barcelona. However, Cooltorise goes beyond devising measures solely within the household; interventions in public spaces also play a role in addressing these issues, as we can see from the outdoor interventions carried out in Espai Llavors and Cruyff Camp Jordi Alba.
In this regard, the mappings carried out in the Usera district (Madrid, Spain) within the project gave voice to these inequalities in the context of various uses of public space. To put it in the words of the researchers who have published these results in the prestigious journal Energy Research & Social Science:
“Older women, as caregivers, described outdoor spaces as intimately connected with caregiving tasks. Their everyday walks were more complex (with more stops between the starting point and destination) than those described by men. During summertime, these paths were changed: the better path was not necessarily the shorter, but the one with more shade”.
In fact, due to their role as caregivers, women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. They often make more frequent use of natural climate shelters, such as parks or shaded urban landmarks, to perform tasks that cannot wait, such as changing diapers or feeding their babies. On the other hand, according to these researchers, male narratives focus on spaces where they engage in leisure activities, such as playing cards. Furthermore, women tend to be the main caregivers for two of the most vulnerable groups to heat: children and the elderly. In this sense, as long as care is not equally shared between men and women, women will be more vulnerable to heat, both in the private and public spheres.
For all these reasons, addressing summer energy poverty should incorporate a gender and structural dimension, protecting women and other vulnerable social groups from its worst effects. Taking into account factors such as gender, social class, or age will help us design better strategies to address climate change, which should not leave anyone behind.
