Abstract

This interdisciplinary review paper explores linkages between access to energy, women's empowerment and
entrepreneurship. This will be discussed in the context of the informal
food sector. Despite expectations that access to energy for productive
uses empowers women by enabling them to generate an income, women in
developing countries face a range of barriers when establishing and
operating enterprises, including access to energy. The literature
reviewed in this paper suggests that, although improved access to energy
for women in the informal food sector may create a range of benefits
for women, the empirical evidence base upon which such claims are made
is limited. Access to a range of energy services suitable to their
enterprise would provide women with building blocks to operate their
enterprise, alleviate restrictions on growth, increase their
sustainability, and provide
them with increased control over enterprise operation. These may help to
create an enabling environment for empowerment, rather than directly
contributing to it. Consideration of the gendered dynamics and logics of entrepreneurship in the design of development
interventions, in particular with regard to motivations for operating
an enterprise, spatial distribution of enterprises, growth strategies and risk behaviour, may lead to more sustainable and empowered enterprises in the long-term.

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