Conference Agenda

Despite significant global investments in rural electrification, nearly one billion people continue to live without access to electricity, most of them in rural South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This paper examines the impact of India’s Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), a large-scale rural electrification program launched in 2005, on women’s empowerment outcomes. Leveraging the staggered rollout of the program across districts under the 10th and 11th Five-Year Plans, I use a difference-in-differences instrumental variable (DD-IV) strategy to estimate the causal effects of electrification. The results show that program eligibility led to a significant increase in household electrification, which in turn improved women's decision-making power, mobility freedom, age at marriage, and health-seeking behavior. I identify four key mechanisms driving these effects: (i) reductions in time burdens from water and fuel collection, (ii) expanded female labor force participation, (iii) improved safety through better lighting and reduced kerosene dependence, and (iv) increased access to information and income-generating tools through appliance ownership. These findings underscore the potential of rural electrification when delivered reliably and at scale, to drive meaningful gains in women’s socio-economic empowerment.