Research & Advice

As a policy advisor with experience in both practice and academia, I focus on policy design. My aim is to improve policy outcomes by contributing to policy design and by participating in policy making processes to create impact and ensure a just, sustainable and inclusive policy.

In my academic work, I use a gender lens to analyse energy poverty policies and energy transition policies in the EU. The combination of gender-sensitive approaches and energy policy analysis is unique and my contribution has been acknowledged both in academia and in practice by invitations to participate in policy formulation activities.

Energy policy

Women are underrepresented in all levels of decision making in the energy sector, leading to gender inequality in energy transition. A gender just energy policy will decrease the gender gap in the energy transition, but only when appropriate policy interventions are developed in which women’s energy needs are acknowledged and their rights are recognized.

Sustainability

All over the world, there are women with limited access to energy services, such as transport and heating/cooling. This struggle is addressed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on gender equality (SDG5), poverty eradication (SDG1) and access to affordable and clean energy (SDG7). At the global level, the United Nations estimates that three billion people lack the energy services they need.

Energy poverty

Eurostat estimates that 54 million Europeans are struggling to afford their energy needs. One out of seven Dutch households are not paying their energy bills on time. Energy poverty, the situation in which you are not able to afford the energy services you need, has a strong gender face. Due to gender pay gap, women earn less than men, and since they have a longer life expectancy, they live longer in poverty than men which contributes to their energy poverty.

Publications:

%d bloggers like this: