Women’s Agency in a World of Flux: On Silesian Energy Transition

Abstract

The chapter introduces a gender and energy nexus and presents an Upper Silesia case study of the energy transition as viewed locally. The main aim of this text is to explain some of the historical and industrial contexts of the “black gold” region when seen through a gender and ecofeminist lens. We present the recent processes of deindustrialization and decarbonization in Upper Silesia and show how these changes affect people living in an intensive flux. We emphasize the need to overcome the gender inequality in energy transition and to study the situation of women in the region. This chapter also presents some theoretical inspirations which link subsequent chapters—particularly modernization, feminism, and subjectivity/agency. We illustrate here the mosaic image of how women’s and cultural studies are intertwined with environmental and energy issues within shifting structural and economic contexts.