Publication: Violence Against Women and Girls Resource Guide: Energy Brief
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2025-09-23
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2025-10-16
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Violence against women and girls (VAWG) risks in energy operations arise across both the demand and supply sides of the sector. On the demand side, limited access to energy, particularly lighting and clean cooking, can restrict women’s mobility, increase their exposure to violence, and limit economic participation. Financial stress linked to rising tariffs may heighten domestic tensions and trigger intimate partner violence. On the supply side, risks emerge throughout planning, construction, and operations. Large-scale projects may displace communities and bring an influx of male laborers, heightening sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment (SEA/SH) risks. Gender imbalances in the workforce and weak labor oversight can further expose women to harassment and exclusion. Moreover, the digitalization of energy services introduces new risks of cyber harassment and data breaches. Yet, if designed with appropriate safeguards and digital literacy support, digital platforms can improve women’s access to services, information, and decision-making spaces. Even efforts to empower women through energy entrepreneurship may provoke social stigma or intimate partner violence - underscoring the need to pair such interventions with community sensitization, male engagement, and psychosocial support. In this context, the note aims to distinguish broader prevention and empowerment strategies from specific mitigation measures in World Bank-supported projects that address VAWG and SEA/SH risks in infrastructure development, such as energy projects that entail civil works.
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“Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). 2025. Violence Against Women and Girls Resource Guide: Energy Brief. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43858 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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