Access to energy in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) is not only constrained by physical shortages but by unequal power relations between women and men. Policy makers have often failed to recognise gender inequalities with the result that supposedly gender-neutral energy policies discriminate against women (Clancy and Feenstra, 2004). This article summarises a regional AFREPREN/ENERGIA/DFiD study that reviewed energy policy documents and energy policymaking processes in Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to assess the gender dimension. The study focused on the overall energy sector and then narrowed down to the power sub-sector. It examined how gender research could best influence power sector policy making in Eastern and Southern Africa.