Well, first and foremost the general overall topic being with the women in energy, speakers emphasised that women should be allowed facilities and means to be more accessible and be included in the world of energy. One of my favourite speakers was Syda Bbumba, Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Uganda. She told the audience about how women in Africa bear the burden of all household activities, cooking, food processing, carrying of firewood and so much more, up to the point that people have called the women of Africa 'beasts of burden'. She made a point that women spend so much time carting firewood from the forests to their homes. All this is a waste of valuable time as these women could be involved in doing other constructive things that are economically, educationally and intellectually involved. Not to mention the dangers that these women encounter in these forests, sexual abuse, dangerous animals and generally unhygienic conditions.

The solutions that Syda Bbumba came up with in order to avoid these autrocities is for:
• involving women of every sector in energy programmes.
• introducing safer, gender and environmentally friendly energy methods such as solar energy.

This was her closing statement: ''Women need to be a step ahead of men. My mother has chronic bronchitis due to all these unhealthy energy conditions''.

One of the most crucial questions that one can ask themselves at this point is: What has South Africa, as the host country of this conference, done to implement strategies that will see the formation of environment, gender and economically friendly alternative methods of energy?

On that point, I was pleased to discover that a certain man by the name of Robert Maake from the Minerals and Energy Policy Centre, had recently facilitated a workshop in Johannesburg to develop an organisation implementation strategy for the social and econmic development and growth of rural areas in South Africa.