Presentation short abstract

This presentation explores how Türkiye’s energy transition is shaped by gendered labour, expertise, and policy exclusions. It highlights overlooked inequalities in energy governance and offers a feminist justice framework for more democratic pathways for green just energy transformation.

Presentation long abstract

This paper investigates how gendered power relations and institutional practices shape the direction of energy transitions in Türkiye. While state strategies emphasize decarbonization and technological expansion, the governance of the energy sector remains marked by centralization, limited transparency, and uneven participation. Drawing on feminist political ecology and insights from recent gender analyses in Türkiye’s climate and environment fields, the paper examines how policy frameworks and labour structures reproduce inequalities in leadership, technical roles, and access to emerging opportunities in the green economy.

The analysis highlights three recurring dynamics that reveal the social foundations of energy systems: the erasure of care and reproductive labour in energy planning; the marginalisation of women’s professional expertise in regulatory and technical arenas; and the unequal distribution of transition risks, including energy poverty and job precarity. These patterns show how gender is embedded in both the material and political landscapes of energy transformation.

By connecting these findings to broader debates in political ecology and justice, the paper argues that more democratic and equitable transitions require recognising and addressing these structural inequalities. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s framework of redistribution, recognition, and representation, it suggests ways energy governance could be reoriented towards more socially grounded and inclusive forms of transition.