Electrification and women empowerment in Malawi

Abstract

Access to electricity has been revealed to fast-track opportunities for women by moving them into more profitable activities., However whether development through financial empowerment change the norms from the common gender standards and practices inside the family unit remains debatable. This investigation analyses the relationships between electricity access and women empowerment, using two waves 2010/2011 and 2019/2020 panel data from Malawi National Statistical Office (NSO). The study focuses on women empowerment indicators including: (i) Time allocation on income generating and noneconomic activities, (ii) household assets ownership, income, decision making on household earnings and whether the households engage in income generating activities. Results from Fixed Effect models, shows that electricity access improves all indicators of women’s empowerment. Income and assets values are higher in electricity usage for household compared to other household with no access to electricity, time allocation for different economic activities is identified through hours spent weekly in different home activities such as fetching water, firewood collection, food processing and farming activities, further, results show the total number of hours used up in those home-based accomplishments are less for electricity users households compare to electricity non-users. Finally, the households with access to electricity spend more hours in income generating activities compared to the households without electricity access. This study suggests that electric energy access can be a significant for policy makers aimed improving the equity and gender equality for social transformation.