African countries suffer from shortages of energy supply and access, with negative effects on social and economic progress. As a result, the majority of energy expended across farms in Africa comes from manpower. But in truth, this is mostly “woman power”.

African women are largely responsible for cooking and outdoor work, shouldering a disproportionate share of manual labour — especially in agriculture.

Low levels of energy access are therefore not only undermining agricultural development and holding back progress on global development goals. They are negatively affecting the welfare of rural women at the same time.

As well as boosting economic activities and reducing environmental degradation, opening up access to sustainable, off-grid energy sources has the potential to dramatically transform women’s agricultural productivity, health and wellbeing. Since limited energy access is a rural more than an urban phenomenon, improved availability can boost rural women’s wellbeing and reduce gender imbalances.

But for this to happen, women’s needs must be considered at the policymaking level and capacity must be built, so they can play a meaningful role in the design, development and scaling of local energy solutions. Setting gender-positive development policies requires a deliberate, targeted approach.

One example of such an inclusive initiative is the public-private Transformative Partnerships on Energy for Africa, which seeks to add 160GW of on-grid capacity and 130m new connections by 2025 — amounting to 160 per cent growth. This will be done by overhauling utility companies and, crucially, increasing the number of bankable energy programmes that focus on serving women and “bottom of the pyramid” access.

Such gender-inclusive approaches are essential. Women conduct up to 90 per cent of the manual labour on farms, including sowing, weeding and harvesting crops. To weed a single hectare of sorghum by hand can take about 324 hours — almost two weeks — demonstrating the dire need for mechanised tools.

Improved energy access could help ease other burdens for rural women, too. Energy in rural areas is inextricably linked with the development of cottage industries — household-level economic activities such as sewing, knitting, baking and cooking — which are often done in poorly ventilated spaces using inefficient, polluting systems.

Cooking accounts for about 70 per cent of household energy use in Africa — compared with 10 per cent globally — and often involves biofuels such as firewood. The toxic fumes produced affect entire families and cause about 600,000 deaths every year across Africa, making them more deadly than malaria. Yet, bound by their domestic duties, women suffer disproportionately from this noxious smoke.

Pioneering solutions that are already in use offer hope for change.

Tumusiime Rhoda Peace is a former commissioner for rural economy and agriculture at the African Union Commission and a member of the Malabo Montpellier Panel.