Energy poverty has a female face: impact of cost of living crisis

Green transition must be gender inclusive

EU should recognise the right to energy

Housing should not be treated as a commodity

MEPs urge member states to address poverty and call for a European Green Deal that will ensure a just and socially fair transition.

In a report, adopted by Parliament with 383 in favour, 99 against and 71 abstentions, MEPs call on the Commission and member states to take urgent action to address poverty and increasing inequalities among women, especially vulnerable groups. Access to energy should be considered a right, the text states, calling for member states and the EU to urgently guarantee affordable utilities and food for low-income households and to ban energy disconnections.

As a result of discrimination and inequality in housing, many women live in insecure, undignified and unsafe conditions, and are at increased risk of homelessness and violence, the texts states, stressing that forced evictions disproportionally impact women. MEPs call on the Commission to propose new rules to mitigate housing being treated as a commodity and to stop speculators from making housing unaffordable.

A gender perspective is lacking in the Commission’s main climate, energy and environmental initiatives, they say. The text calls for a European Green Deal that will ensure a just and socially fair transition that works for all by developing a gender-transformative intersectional strategy to address energy poverty. Public investment in social, affordable and energy-efficient housing must be increased, they say, taking into account the specific needs of women, who often significantly contribute towards household energy management, yet lack equal access to resources.

The energy sector is one of the most gender-imbalanced industries in the EU, with women accounting for only 24% of the labour force, say MEPs. They call on private and public energy companies to eradicate any form of discrimination and stress the need to fight against persistent structural gender inequalities that obstruct them from entering and staying in the sector.

Quote

Alice Kuhnke (Greens/EFA, Sweden), lead MEP steering this report through Parliament, said: “We know that energy poverty has a female face. Across the continent, millions of EU citizens are struggling to make ends meet and are forced to choose between “heating or eating”. We need the European Commission to walk the talk and deliver on its promise to leave no one behind in the green transition. That must also mean leaving no woman behind."

Background

Over 20 million more women than men live below the poverty line index in the EU.

Women are at a greater risk of falling into energy poverty – a lack of access to affordable energy resources. According to the European Commission, “energy poverty is a widespread problem across Europe, as between 50 and 125 million people are unable to afford proper indoor thermal comfort.”