From Burden to Agency: How Clean Energy is Transforming Women’s Lives in Rural Rajasthan
Picture this. It is 7 PM in Bansur village, Rajasthan. Instead of hurrying to finish all the household work to get to the farm and water the fields, Rina is calmly grinding her spices in the electric mixer. At the same time, her daughter studies under a bright LED light at home. The solar panels connected to the grid have stored the required light, and for the first time in a while, electricity is not an issue rationed by an unreliable grid. This scene is not the story of one home but is seen playing across thousands of homes in rural Rajasthan. The ways in which clean energy and reliable electricity are reshaping the daily lives of rural women have ripple effects even beyond the household.
For decades, women in villages planned their day around the lack of electricity and energy scarcity. On a typical day, a woman would spend an hour or so on hand grinding grain, then another hour or two to walk and collect firewood, and then helplessly wait for a male family member to help her operate the diesel pump (source: [IEA, 2020]; [FAO, 2018]). Add a few more hours to working around the power cuts. This would easily mean losing 4-5 hours of her day to what researchers call energy poverty.
Clean energy is giving women back those hours. That electric grinder now does the task in a matter of minutes. The water pump now runs when she needs to, she doesn’t need to rely on the male family members or wake up in the middle of the night to water the fields. The grid-connected to solar makes reliable electricity available. These cannot be looked at as mere conveniences. In fact, these are building blocks of economic opportunity and in turn women empowerment. Women are using this reclaimed time to diversify the crops their growing, stitching to sell garments in the local market, attend vocational training or literacy classes, or join self-help groups. Some women are also able to participate in village meetings where their voices were hardly heard earlier as they were unavailable, owing to time consuming household chores.
Recent studies on women’s empowerment highlight a comprehensive power framework consisting of four interrelated elements: power within, power with, power to, and power over (Rowlands, 1997; Kabeer, 1999; Sen, 1999). This framework captures the multifaceted capability of women to make strategic life choices and act upon them across personal, social, and political domains. This indicates that electrification can help transform gendered time burdens and foster empowerment.
This directional change is also reflected in the field research conducted across villages in Rajasthan where grid-connected solar was installed. The good news is that about 27% more women are now participating in community decision as compared to just 17% men reporting increased participation. This is a significant jump in a region where women’s voices have traditionally been marginalized. 82% women reported that household chores take less time. 22% women said that they now have more leisure time. 47% women also reported that they feel safer at night. While this was observed, perhaps the digital divide exists where more men reported having access and spending more time with television or mobile phones as opposed to women. But what the quantitative data cannot capture is the confidence of a woman who no longer must depend on anyone to irrigate her fields or take economic decisions. As Santosh from Sanoli village told us, “Since electricity is continuously available at night, my children are able to study without interruption and most importantly, I can work on my farm when I choose to.”
The most exciting development takes place when women are co-creators rather than just recipients of clean energy solutions. Take the example of Maharashtra’s Vahini Yojana model, now being replicated in parts of Rajasthan. This puts women-led cooperatives in charge of managing solar installations, handling maintenance, as well as training other women to do so. When women have a stake in the energy transition, the ripple effects are stunning. The entire communities benefit through better health from clean cooking, improved education outcomes as well as increased social participation.
Rajasthan’s story might offer us a blueprint, but it’s not automatic. For clean energy to be used as an opportunity to transform gender equity in India, it needs to be deliberate and conscious. We need inclusive financing that recognizes women as economic decision makers, women-led cooperatives that go beyond access and give women ownership, targeted training programs that build technical skills alongside leadership capabilities, and cultural sensitivity that works with the communities to expand opportunities while respecting local contexts.
India’s clean energy transition will be measured in megawatts and carbon reductions but its true success depends on smaller and more personal metrics such as that one moment when a woman realizes she is free to make her own decisions with choices she did not have yesterday, or when a girl does not have to drop out of school as she has the options of studying late hours at home or when a household becomes more equitable because energy access is no longer rationed by gender.
This is based on Sambodhi’s field research and community assessments of GEAPP’s work with PM KUSUM across rural Rajasthan.
Stella George – Senior Manager, Sambodhi
