This study aims to increase international attention on the gender equality dimensions of energy access in the run-up to Rio+20 and contribute to the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative and its goal of ensuring universal access to modern energy services by 2030. It conceptualizes gender and energy in development from a gender and rights perspective and presents an analysis of energy system governance at household, national and global levels. The study primarily focuses on experience emerging from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, given the severity of energy poverty in those regions.