Household Dynamics - HEDON Household Energy Network

More documents

Recommendations

Info

THEME Theme Women’s diversity in households and its importance for (household) energy interventions Looking at household dynamics in relation to gender is crucial for successful household energy interventions. Women’s needs for electrical equipment will have to compete with men’s for sure, and promotion of improved living conditions of both sexes is not least a process of negotiation. Therefore it is necessary to know about these gender dynamics. This article will recommend not to stop at sexdisaggregated data but to amplify gender for other intersecting factors such as age, marital status or children. Based on experiences in a village in Badakhshan, in the North of Afghanistan, this article will show exemplarily that young, unmarried women possess different capabilities, needs and daily schedules compared to a married mother or an elderly mother-in-law, for instance. This article intends to share experience that the above mentioned factors can shape household energy interventions and responses considerably. When it comes to the subject of household dynamics, one will most likely first think about differences concerning women and men. Questions about gender roles, responsibilities and relations that affect access to monetary and non-monetary resources, decision-making power and social resources come to mind. The needs of 2 women and men in relation to (household) energy are different, including the different household dynamics. This needs to be acknowledged and moreover, analysed when planning for and implementing energy interventions. Yet, diverse household dynamics do not stop at differences between women and men. Women, be it in rural Afghanistan Author Anke M. Mueller iNTeGRATiON environment & energy GmbH, Bahnhofstr. 9, 91322 Graefenberg, Germany. Tel. +49(0)9192-9959-0 Fax +49(0)9192-9959-10 email: amueller@integration.org or anke.m.mueller@uni-oldenburg.de Figure 1: A home in the village - view of the kitchen or elsewhere, cannot be subsumed as one homogenous group (Moser 1993). The extended family system in Afghanistan implies more generations under one roof, hence pooling different women together: married, unmarried, with or without children, different ages etc. Differences among these women would be covered while assuming that capabilities as well as needs of, for instance, a young, unmarried woman are the same compared to a mother with five children or a mother-in-law with adult children who stays at the son’s home. In consequence, talking about household dynamics also needs to relate to the different women in a household and their capabilities – their spheres of influences – and needs. Talking about household energy, such diversity also implies different energy needs of the women. Experiences from a village in the North of Afghanistan In the case of a rural village in Badakhshan, in the North of Afghanistan, household dynamics also point to differences between the women of a household. The village will soon be supplied with electricity from a micro-hydro-power system. The construction is supported
THEME Time Young, unmarried woman Married woman Widowed woman / mother-in-law Before dawn Praying, returning the blankets and mattresses to their places Dawn Preparing breakfast, caring for animals Morning Cleaning and organizing the house, washing dishes, free time by GTZ, commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is among others aimed at improving women’s (and men’s) living conditions. This includes the facilitation of household activities, e.g. by improved lighting, utilisation of some electrical equipment and replacing human energy for small-scale processing of food to a certain extent. A field study was undertaken in April 2009 in order to find out about the current socio-economic living conditions. Gender was a minor topic for this visit. In the framework of this, the category of gender was made a subject for analysis. The disaggregation of information by sex was amplified for further layers such as age, marital status, class, and education. The study benefited from others that have been implemented in rural Afghanistan which found out further factors influencing women’s diverse roles in rural households (Grace 2005, Duchet, Duchier 2006). Factors that determine differences among women can be for instance: household composition, wealth, marital status, children, skills, age (group) and women’s involvement in organisations. Accordingly, this was taken into account. Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009 Categories of women Praying, preparing the breakfast Praying Making the dough for Nan (bread), washing dishes, preparing children (washing) Making the Nan (bread), cleaning and organizing the house, sometimes washing clothes, getting water Noon Preparing lunch, eating, praying Preparing lunch, eating, taking care of the children Afternoon Free time, (weaving, knitting/ tailoring) Washing dishes after lunch, taking care of the children most likely time of the day where women find some free time Before sunset Assist in cooking Cooking and preparation dinner (roughly 1.5 hours) After sunset Having dinner, chatting with family, reading Table 1: Daily calendar of three categories of women Dinner, washing dishes, chatting with family, praying, preparing the mattresses It is a widely accepted argument that a household cannot be taken as an entity in research but diversity within the household needs to be recognised (e.g. Kabeer 1994). In the case of the village in Badakhshan, diversity implies not only between sexes but was extended for the diversity among women: three different categories of women emerged from the data: – the young woman, average age 18, single (no children) – the married woman, average age 30, (younger children, on average 9 years old, on average 2.4 children) – the widowed elder woman/mother-inlaw, average age 55, (adult children, average age 27, on average 3.5 children, living at their sons’) (The latter actually included two categories of being elder widow and mother-in-law but was not further subdivided as the sample for categorisation would be too small for this purpose. The sample had been chosen at random. The aim of the side topic of gender was to provide a snapshot). The categorisation paid attention to the circumstance that the status of these women is different among each other and in comparison to men: the household Taking out the ash from the Tandoor (stove) and cleaning it, washing dishes Weaving of local rugs / knitting / tailoring Lunch Keeping animals, free time Assist in cooking Nothing (having dinner) settings in rural Afghanistan imply that young women will stay at their parents’ home until getting married. They are under the surveillance and care of their father and brothers but also, of other women in the household. As Afghani households can comprise more families in terms of grouping nuclear families together (Blood 2001) -as it is the case in the village in Badakhshan- the young women will frequently obey older married women. The married women bear most of the responsibility for their children and comply equally, not only with their husbands but likely also with their mother-in-laws. When married, women will usually move to their husband’s house. This is mostly in one household, together with the husband’s parents. The motherin-law typically possesses the power to select one daughter-in-law as the major household manager; at the same time, she will step back to a certain degree from household duties. In their relation to men, the diversity continues: the mother-in-law as well as elderly women are respected more than the married woman (not to mention the young woman), the strong obligation to take care of the young woman (as potential future brides), makes them more likely subject to men’s close watch, etc. 3
Page 1 and 2: A prActitioner’s journAl on house
Page 3: Editorial Household Dynamics Author
Page 7 and 8: Figure 2: View of the village roof
Page 9 and 10: switching, the transition to modern
Page 11 and 12: Gender Audits of Energy Policy in B
Page 13 and 14: Figure 2: Women producing improved
Page 15 and 16: From the three smoke projects that
Page 17 and 18: Access to energy is not the magic w
Page 19 and 20: Profile of the author sheila Oparao
Page 21 and 22: Launch - GTZ HERA Cooking Energy Co
Page 23 and 24: News from Practical Action Consulti
Page 25 and 26: Policy Influencing Like capacity bu
Page 27 and 28: Community and household level tools
Page 29 and 30: Table 1: Section G of the Household
Page 31 and 32: Pressure cooker in high altitude ar
Page 33 and 34: Retention-heat box It was suggested
Page 35 and 36: Figure 1: Dr. usha Bajpai with vill
Page 37 and 38: Fuel Type Unit Bawan Bachauda Birau
Page 39 and 40: Natural draft gasifier water heater
Page 41 and 42: Parameter Gasifier Water Heater ‘
Page 43 and 44: uy tortillas or have their nixtamal
Page 45 and 46: Stakeholder consultations The follo
Page 47 and 48: CALL FOR PAPERS Call for papers Boi

Household Dynamics - HEDON Household Energy Network

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?