Women’s Empowerment Through Electrification: What Is the Evidence from the Indian Subcontinent?

It is recognised that modern energy services, particularly electricity, are crucial for overall human well-being. It is also seen as an important pathway for improving gender equality and ensuring social inclusion, in addition to serving a broader range of development objectives. However, how and why the provision of electricity results in specific gender outcomes remains unclear. In particular, the extent of involvement of women in the electricity value chain and how it may spur women’s empowerment need further examination. Understanding these nuances is constrained due to a fragmented body of evidence and the absence of specific analytical tools for gauging the gender–electricity–empowerment linkages. All these aspects clearly indicate pathways to women’s empowerment are multifaceted and continue to be elusive and debatable. Hence, to address the above-mentioned questions and challenges, this chapter presents key observations from the fieldwork undertaken in the Indian subcontinent, focussing on India and Nepal, on the gender-electricity-empowerment linkages. In addition, the electricity policies in the focussed countries were also analysed to understand the role of policies as a driver for the promotion of gender equality and empowerment.