abstract: 'Electricity provides a range of desirable services such as the electric

  light and the use of mobile phones and is regarded as a conditional

  factor for economic growth. Gender equality and women''s empowerment are

  also promoted as a key to development on the international agenda.

  However, relatively little is known about how the advent of electricity

  in new contexts affects gender relations. The present analysis of

  electricity''s impact on gender relations engages with the concepts of

  care work and empowerment. Based on two ethnographic case studies in

  rural communities in Uttar Pradesh, India, and Bamiyan, Afghanistan, we

  examine how and to what extent the introduction of electricity affected

  women''s care work practices and empowerment - and potentially

  transformed gender relations. We also draw on our own empirical material

  from other parts of India (West Bengal and Jharkhand). We find that

  electricity affected everyday life in terms of providing important

  resources and enhancing women''s opportunities to perform their expected

  role as care workers more efficiently and in a qualitatively better way.

  The women appreciated this positive effect of electricity in their

  everyday lives. However, we argue that in India, electricity at the same

  time reinforced structures of gender inequality such as patriarchy and

  dowry practices, and we trace this tendency to the conceptualisation of

  women as care workers in combination with conventional, gender `neutral''

  electricity interventions. In contrast, there are signs that women''s

  status increased in the Afghanistan case, which we link to the unusual

  inclusion of women engineers in the electricity supply.'
affiliation: 'Standal, K (Corresponding Author), Univ Oslo, Ctr Dev \& Environm, Oslo,
  Norway.

  Standal, Karina; Winther, Tanja, Univ Oslo, Ctr Dev \& Environm, Oslo, Norway.'
author: Standal, Karina and Winther, Tanja
author_list:
- family: Standal
  given: Karina
- family: Winther
  given: Tanja
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1080/08039410.2015.1134642
eissn: 1891-1765
files: []
issn: 0803-9410
journal: FORUM FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
keywords: 'electricity; gender relations; empowerment; care work; India;

  Afghanistan'
language: English
number: 1, SI
number-of-cited-references: '30'
orcid-numbers: Winther, Tanja/0000-0002-9527-6063
pages: 27-45
papis_id: 83ec977db6a36e542bad38b4625ff84f
ref: Standal2016empowermentenergy
researcherid-numbers: Winther, Tanja/Q-7021-2018
times-cited: '37'
title: Empowerment Through Energy? Impact of Electricity on Care Work Practices and
  Gender Relations
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000376267600003
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '11'
volume: '43'
web-of-science-categories: Development Studies
year: '2016'