A pre-dawn darkness in a village in the Rajshahi district is illuminated only by the acrid scent of smoke, invigorating a woman as she rises in her mud-walled kitchen. Her hands, hardened by years of toil, tend the chula (stove) fuelled by wood and cow dung, the fire crackling as she prepares a meal for her family. Time passes slowly as she sets out to collect firewood, her back heavy with branches. In the evening, as daylight fades, she lights the kerosene lamp with care for her children's homework, since unreliable electricity dims the lights in her small home. Such stories are common in millions of households across Bangladesh.
As we celebrate Clean Energy Day in 2026, proud of our renewable energy installations totalling around 1700 MW (NDRE), are we asking a crucial question that remains mostly unasked? Are we measuring what truly matters? Beyond megawatts and grid connections, are we counting the hours of women's lives lost?
Experts increasingly call this scenario 'energy poverty as care work'. Simply put, it describes the unending jobs women do to keep their homes running. This includes gathering fuel, using inefficient stoves, dealing with unreliable electricity, and compensating for energy shortages with their own time and health. These vital tasks go unpaid and mostly unnoticed.
Thus, adopting a just and sustainable energy transition means recognising the unpaid care work of women and girls in household energy management and making clean energy delivery a real driver of gender equality.
In Bangladesh, as per the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Time-use Survey, women spend an estimated 6.4 hours a day on housework or care work, such as cooking, cleaning, fetching water, washing, and collecting firewood, which is significantly higher than the time spent by their male counterparts which is only 1.1 hours. Just cooking alone takes up to 2.6 hours, not to mention the time spent gathering firewood, which adds another 40 minutes or more to their daily schedule, sometimes up to 20 hours a week in rural areas. The toll of such intensive care on the health of rural women is simply alarming. Moreover, indoor air pollution from biomass use is the number one cause of death among women in South Asia, resulting in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Asthma, and other respiratory problems. Worldwide, home air pollution accounts for 4.3 million deaths each year, primarily among women and children.
This time constraint represents a significant opportunity cost. With a female labour participation rate of only 44 per cent, hours lost to energy-intensive drudgery limit women's education, employment, skill development, and participation in society. This directly affects the country's strategy to increase women's labor force participation and achieve SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 7 (Access to Affordable & Clean Energy).
The transformative power of renewable energy is not just about replacing dirty energy sources but also about giving time back. Technologies like biogas, cook stoves, home solar systems, and mini-grids provide not only kilowatt-hours but also time for women. World Bank data shows improved cook stove interventions save households 102 hours annually in firewood collection and reduce fuel use by 58 per cent. Bangladesh's national improved cook stove program has distributed 1.6 million improved cook stoves (such as "Bondhu Chula"), with all direct beneficiaries being women, showing the scalable impact of women-focused energy solutions.
Think of a solar-powered water pump that saves women from carrying water by hand, giving them time for other productive work. Or a biogas plant that processes domestic waste into clean cooking fuel, ending smoke-related health problems and reducing cooking time. Functional solar home systems let girls study in the evening, run home-based businesses such as tailoring, handicrafts, food processing, and online work, and go out at night when they might otherwise be vulnerable to gender violence.
However, technology should not be seen as a solution by itself. Otherwise, it might simply reinforce existing inequalities, with men in charge of renewable technology and women confined to household work.
The present energy policy in Bangladesh is often assessed by technical achievements: the number of houses connected, megawatts added, and economic benefits. This approach fails to deliver external benefits, such as eliminating women's unpaid care work and achieving gender equity through improved access to modern energy services.
Closing the gap requires new evaluation approaches. Time-use surveys should be included in energy project assessments to quantify hours saved by women. Gender budgeting within energy ministries should allocate funds to women-centric projects. All macro-infrastructure projects should include an impact statement on care work, requiring assessments of how new systems affect gendered work so that women's views inform energy system designs.
To realise this vision, design and co-creation must involve women. Developing energy products and initiatives that address safety, time savings, and convenience, such as solar systems easily integrated into women's lives or smoke-reducing stoves that fit into daily routines. Create green care jobs that use and formalise women's knowledge in home energy management, employing them as certified clean energy technicians, stove installers, and biogas plant maintenance specialists in their communities. This includes establishing accredited training centres in rural areas and ensuring women have access to advanced technical education that can compete with traditional male-dominated programs.
At the same time, include energy access initiatives in the social policy agenda and connect them with programs for babies and toddlers' care, girls' education campaigns, and support for women's entrepreneurship, creating momentum for empowerment by reinforcing each initiative. Finally, launch the Narrative Campaign nationwide as part of International Day of Clean Energy 2026, focusing on clean energy as the 'Time Machine of Gender Justice' and its power to give women worldwide the 'Power of Time' through inspiring stories.
Bangladesh can become a true beacon of clean energy if its progress is measured not just by clean megawatts, but by the hours of women's time freed for study, work, leadership, rest, and recreation. On this International Day of Clean Energy, let's pledge to build a future where our energy systems light up our homes and empower the people who keep them running, especially women. It is time to make the unseen invaluable.
Razu Ahmed, Project Coordinator, Karmojibi Nari (KN); razu.kn.jtgsw@gmail.com; Farhana Jubaida Urmee, Associate Researcher, KN; Tehzeeb Murshed, Project Officer, KN; and Mozammel Haque Tonmoy, Project Officer, KN. The article is prepared under the supervision of Research Wing of KN.