While there has been significant progress in expanding access to grid electricity in India, the reliability of electricity remains a concern. Based on five national-level datasets spanning over a period of almost two decades., this article shows that improved reliability of electricity at the community level is beneficial for women’s empowerment in terms of mobility, participation in household decision-making, health autonomy, and safety.
In a developing country like India, the flip of a light switch can mean far more than the difference between darkness and illumination; it can signify opportunity, empowerment, and change, particularly for women. Even though India has seen remarkable progress in expanding access to grid electricity connection in recent years, the reliability of the same still remains a challenge, and there has been no significant change observed over the years (Figure 1). In this context, it is important to understand the gendered impact of reliable electrification.
In recent research (Bhukta et al. 2024), we explore this issue by studying the impact of enhanced community electrification on women’s autonomy and violence against women. We focus on community electrification to incorporate the potential positive externalities of a better lit community. We highlight how improvement in reliability of electricity fosters women’s autonomy, including mobility, participation in household decision-making and marital choices, health, reproductive autonomy and safety.
The empirical analysis in the study employs a flexible difference-in-difference estimator1 using five different datasets spanning over two decades: Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) panel (2005-2012) (Desai and Vanneman 2018), National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Socioeconomic High-resolution Rural-Urban Geographic Dataset on India (SHRUG) (Asher et al. 2021), Indian Residential Energy Survey (IRES) (2020) (Agrawal et al. 2021), and National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 (2019–21) (International Institute for Population Sciences, 2021).
Figure 1. Reliability of electricity, 2004 (Panel A) and 2012 (Panel B)

Source: India Human Development Survey, Rounds 1 and 2.
Note: Reliability of electricity is measured by district-level average electricity hours. Darker blue implies higher average hours.

Safety and protection: Reducing violence through light
Enhanced safety is one of the most transformative benefits of electrification for women. The presence of lighting in streets, public spaces, and even in households has been shown to reduce the risk of violence against women, measured by the number of rapes. Specifically, we find a reduction in the number of rapes (by 0.8) with an increase in 10 additional electricity hours.
Improved lighting enables communities to activate more secure public spaces, allowing women to attend evening classes, work later hours, or simply socialise without fear. This added layer of security creates a positive feedback loop: as women feel safer in public spaces, they engage more with their communities, contributing to economic and social resilience. The study suggests that community lighting can also foster a sense of collective safety, as families and neighbours often report a stronger presence and vigilance when public spaces are well-lit.
When the lights stay on, so do opportunities
For many women in India the presence of reliable lighting extends far beyond basic utility. It directly facilitates their mobility. Historically, social norms in many parts of the country restrict women’s movement outside the home, especially when unaccompanied by males. We find that an additional 10 hours of average community electricity leads to an increase in women’s freedom to go out independently by 0.44 standard deviations during 2004-2012.
Women in communities with better lighting experience a greater sense of safety and confidence to travel independently – this is reflected in our finding that perception about harassment in the locality reduces by 0.5 percentage points. This, in turn, positively influences their participation in education and employment, in terms of an increase in years of education (by 0.06 years) and an increase in the likelihood of paid employment (by 2%) with 10 additional hours of electricity. For instance, having reliable street lighting encourages more women to walk to work or attend evening classes. Increased mobility is just the beginning; with more autonomy over their movements, women gain greater control over their lives, fostering a shift in gender dynamics at home and beyond.
Empowered decision-making through electrification
The power of reliable community electricity extends into the home as well, enabling women to take on more decision-making roles (Sedai et al. 2022). We observe that as reliability of electricity increases in the community, women’s participation in household decisions – such as family planning, finances, and even political opinions – significantly improves. This empowerment is especially critical in a society where decisions pertaining to reproductive health, education, and employment are often dictated by family or societal expectations. For instance, the study found that with 10 additional hours of community electricity, contraceptive use among women rose by 4 percentage points, reflecting a rise in reproductive autonomy. Access to television and other media also plays a role here, exposing women to new ideas and more gender-equal norms.
Health autonomy and access to care
Another significant benefit of reliable electricity is improved health autonomy for women, especially regarding their ability to seek medical treatment. The study notes that with reliable community lighting, more health facilities are accessible at night, leading to an increase in women seeking treatment for short-term illnesses. Reliable electricity also enables households to move away from using biomass fuels or kerosene stoves, which are harmful to respiratory health, especially for women who spend significant time cooking (Duflo et al. 2008).
Looking forward: Policy implications
For policymakers, the study provides valuable insights into how investments in electrification can yield gendered outcomes. Reliable community electrification does not merely reduce darkness; it breaks down gender barriers, empowers women, and creates safer, more inclusive communities. Recognising these impacts allows governments and organisations to prioritise electrification not just as a technical advancement, but as an element of social progress.
Investing in electrification that goes beyond access and includes reliability has clear, measurable benefits for women’s autonomy. The study’s findings emphasise the value of community-oriented programmes and underscore that energy access is deeply interconnected with broader societal goals, including gender equality and social inclusion.
Note:
- We use the DID-M estimator proposed by De Chaisemartin and d’Haultfoeuille (2020) that allows for continuous treatment variable – in this case, the average electricity hours in a community – and is robust to treatment heterogeneity (that is, location/household specific differences in the effects of the treatment) and treatment reversibility (areas with higher electricity hours at one point of time might switch back to lower hours in any future period).
Further Reading
- Agrawal S, S Mani, A Jain, K Ganesan and J Urpelainen (2020), ‘India Residential Energy Survey (IRES) 2020’, Technical Document, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
- Asher Sam, Tobias Lunt, Ryu Matsuura and Paul Novosad (2021), “Development Research at High Geographic Resolution: An Analysis of Night-Lights, Firms, and Poverty in India Using the SHRUG Open Data Platform”, The World Bank Economic Review, 35(4): 845-871
- Bhukta, Rikhia, Debayan Pakrashi, Sarani Saha and Ashish Sedai (2024), “Community electrification and women’s autonomy”, Energy Economics, 137: 107792.
- De Chaisemartin, Clément and Xavier d’Haultfoeuille (2020), “Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects”, American Economic Review, 110(9): 2964-2996.
- Desai, S and R Vanneman (2018), ‘India Human Development Survey-II (IHDS-II), 2011-12’. Available here.
- Duflo, Esther, Michael Greenstone and Rema Hanna (2008), “Indoor air pollution, health and economic well-being”, Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment & Society, 1(1).
- International Institute for Population Sciences (2021), ‘National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21’. Available here.
- Sedai, Ashish Kumar, Rabindra Nepal and Tooraj Jamasb (2022), “Electrification and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women in India”, The Energy Journal, 43(2): 215-238.
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