CARIBBEAN ENERGY INITIATIVE REGIONAL GENDER ANALYSIS FINAL REPORT

The initiative aims to increase the energy sector resilience of these countries to natural and market shocks, facilitating the region's growth, stability, and self-reliance. Access to affordable and reliable modern energy services is critical to a country's and region's growth, affecting nearly all socioeconomic sectors and aspects of life. The energy sector is one of the least gender-diverse sectors in the Caribbean region, with a significant gender gap that needs to be addressed to maximize women's contributions as drivers of innovative and inclusive solutions. The purpose of the regional gender analysis (RGA) is to provide the CEI team with information on gender dynamics and disparities in the Caribbean regional energy sector, along with recommendations to guide and facilitate the implementation of this project. The RGA utilized a mixed methods approach to identify power imbalances that lead to substantial gender gaps and disparities in the energy sector. The analysis recognized macro or sectoral-level societal gender inequalities and obstacles to women's empowerment specifically linked to the energy sector in five domains: laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices; cultural norms and beliefs; gender roles, responsibilities, and time use; access to and control over assets and resources; and patterns of power and decision making. The RGA was conducted from August through mid-December 2020 and was divided into two phases: Phase I, which included an inception report, a desk study, and an interim summary report, and Phase II, which involved remote field data collection, data analysis, and report writing. The data collection process comprised a desk study and virtual field-based data collection in eight countries: Barbados, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Key informants, including members of the USAID CEI project team, implementing partners, officials from legislative bodies, representatives from utilities, and officials in charge of gender/women's issues, noted that the issue of energy poverty needs significantly more research and analysis before any firm conclusions can be drawn, particularly in making comparisons among countries. The RGA's main findings include the following: the energy sector remains one of the least gender-diverse sectors in the Caribbean region, with all CEI countries experiencing gender disparities within their energy sectors, though to varying degrees; gender equality and female empowerment policies are not implemented consistently in any country; and the country with the smallest gender gap at the policy level is the Dominican Republic, while Haiti has the largest gap in access to energy. Labor market studies across the region document generally low levels of participation by women in the industrial category of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning markets, except in a few countries (St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines). The renewable energy sub-sector may offer more opportunities for women, as it is still relatively new and not yet perceived as being "gendered."