Women's access to clean energy and gender equality are intrinsically related, as transition to clean energy provides greater opportunities for women to improve their economic and physical well-being. The gender-energy nexus is central to the framework of the global sustainable development goals, notably those linked to poverty (SDG 1), health and well-being (SDG 3), education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), climate change (SGD 13), and most importantly, affordable and clean energy (SDG 7)—for the promotion of gender equality.
Yet, 2.4 billion people globally lack access to clean energy for cooking and rely on wood, charcoal, coal, animal waste, etc, as highlighted by a 2023 UN Women report titled ‘Gender equality in the sustainable energy transition.’ Women bear a substantial burden of this energy poverty, which is inextricably linked to other time and labour-consuming activities, as well as their safety. Indoor air pollution (IAP), a major contributor to environmental pollution, disproportionately affects women and children due to their greater exposure to such environments. The World Health Organization reported 3.2 million deaths per year due to IAP in 2020. In India, the number stands at 5,00,000 deaths per year, with women and children making up a significant proportion of the number both globally and in India.
Further, women spend a considerable amount of their time on unpaid and care work, including time spent in forest and firewood collection across different geographical regions, which limits their employment opportunities. The Time Use Survey, 2024 released recently by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI),reported the amount of time spent in unpaid domestic activities by women has reduced from 315 minutes in per day 2019 to 305 minutes in 2024. A total of 140 minutes per day was spent on caregiving activities in 2024. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has the potential to be a significant game changer in reducing women’s time spent on unpaid and care work, and in ameliorating health inequities.
The scheme, launched in 2016 under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, aims to promote health, environmental sustainability, and women empowerment by replacing traditional cooking fuels like firewood and cow-dung cakes with cleaner alternatives. Till March 2025, 10.33 crore connections have been released to women from below-poverty-level households. The Phase II of the scheme—Ujjwala 2.0– launched in 2021-22, gave special provisions to migrant families who, with self-declaration and ration card, could avail new connections, without the need for an address proof.. The budgetary allocation for the scheme has increased to `12,000 crore for 2024-25, compared to `8,500 crore for 2023-24 and `6,817 crore in 2022-23.
These trends reveal the scheme has contributed immensely to empowering rural women by reducing the time spent on unpaid and care work. An Oxfam study in 2019 revealed that women who had access to the Ujjwala scheme spent, on average, an hour more on paid work and 49 minutes less on care work. Likewise, a study titled ‘Clean Energy Access: Gender Disparity, Health and Labour Supply’ conducted in Indonesia highlighted the potential impact of clean energy in improving the labour supply of both men and women by reducing the ‘health burden’ on women. It revealed an increase in the lung capacity among women to 11.22 litres per minute when they switched from kerosene to LPG. This also led to an increase in the work hours for women by an additional hour per day (20 percent) and 0.9 hours per day (13 percent) for men.
However, there are a few challenges that need to be addressed. Another study, conducted by the Institute for What Works to Advance Gender Equality, highlighted that the number of refills after the first connection is low among the PMUY users, with an average of four refills per year. At present, a typical refill costs `855-1,030 across states. The subsidy of `300, which is often a third of the refill amount, is insufficient, especially for economically disadvantaged or BPL households. The consumption, therefore, has risen by a small percentage, with many households stacking LPG with traditional fuel. Besides, there also exists a disparity among states in terms of coverage of the scheme and the timely receipt of the subsidy. The other challenges include cultural preferences, liquidity constraints etc. Therefore, to increase the effectiveness of the scheme, these must be addressed while intensifying awareness drives on health impact of using traditional fuels. At present, the scheme runs in 28 states and eight Union Territories, with Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan being the top beneficiaries.
Nonetheless, the initiative—in line with the dream of creating smokeless villages— has reached an access rate of 70 percent in the year 2022, as per the report of the International Energy Agency. The number of people without access to clean energy is expected to decrease from 430 million in 2023 to 285 million in 2030, the year of achieving the SDGs. This comes as a moment of optimism, as it will not only lead to a smokefree, less polluted, time-saving, and healthy life, but will also ease the drudgery and time poverty off the shoulders of women. The scheme, undeniably, opens up opportunities for women’s greater participation in paid employment as well as leads the country towards realising its dream of reaching net zero by 2070 and fulfilling the SDG 7’s aim of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
(Views are personal)
Chetana Naskar | India Lead for SHE Changes Climate and an independent consultant
Ellina Samantroy | Coordinator, Centre for Gender and Labour, V V Giri National Labour Institute
(ellinasroy.vvgnli@gov.in)