Inclusion of women in India’s green economy

Source: RW

Subject: Women and other issue/ Vulnerable Section

Context: A recent CEEW report on ‘Building a Green Economy for Viksit Bharat’ has highlighted that India cannot achieve its USD 30 trillion economy target by 2047 without mainstreaming women into green value chains.

About Inclusion of women in India’s green economy:

What it is?

• The inclusion of women in India’s green economy refers to expanding women’s participation, leadership, and income generation across energy transition, circular economy, and bio-economy & nature-based solutions, ensuring that green growth is job-intensive, equitable, and productivity-enhancing rather than extractive or exclusionary.

Key trends:

• High growth potential but low participation: Women’s labour force participation is 41.7% vs 78.8% for men, far below what is needed for India’s green growth trajectory.

• Productivity dividend of gender diversity: A 1% rise in gender diversity in formal manufacturing correlates with ~2.9% higher labour productivity, underscoring economic gains from inclusion.

• Energy transition: Women constitute ~32% of renewable energy workforce globally, but are clustered in administrative and non-STEM roles, with weak representation in engineering and site-based jobs.

• Rooftop solar and RE deployment show sharp gender gaps: Indian rooftop solar firms report ~11% female workforce, with negligible participation in construction, commissioning, and O&M phases.

• Circular economy: About 1.5 million women (≈49% of waste-pickers) work in early-stage waste collection and segregation, earning ~33% less than men in identical roles.

• Caste–gender intersection intensifies vulnerability: A majority of women in waste and recycling value chains belong to Dalit and Adivasi communities, facing hazardous conditions, informality, and stigma.

• Bio-economy & NbS: Women perform labour-intensive, unpaid or underpaid work (agroforestry, seaweed, bio-inputs), while value addition and formal jobs remain male-dominated.

Opportunities for women’s inclusion:

• Solar micro-enterprises: Solar automation in SHG units like Didi ke Papad lowers energy costs and drudgery, enabling women to scale production locally while raising incomes and enterprise sustainability.

• Drone-led green farming: Namo Drone Didi upgrades women from farm labour to precision service providers, improving input efficiency, cutting emissions, and embedding women in climate-smart agriculture.

• Nature-based livelihoods: Women-led millet revival integrates biodiversity restoration with solar-powered processing, strengthening climate resilience while securing women’s control over food value chains.

• Green factories: All-women EV plants like Ola’s Future factory mainstream women into advanced clean manufacturing, challenging gender norms and anchoring inclusion in core industrial activity.

Critical challenges associated:

• Technical exclusion: Despite higher STEM enrolment, women remain underrepresented in field-based solar roles due to safety, mobility limits, and male-dominated work cultures.

• Climate vulnerability: Heatwaves erase daily incomes of informal green workers like salt-pan farmers, exposing the absence of insurance and adaptive safety nets for women.

• Credit constraints: Lack of land titles and collateral blocks women-led green enterprises from accessing green finance, stalling scale despite policy intent.

• Market barriers: Women SHGs producing eco-goods struggle to enter formal supply chains due to weak certification, logistics, and digital market access.

Way ahead:

• Climate insurance: Parametric heat insurance converts climate shocks into predictable payouts, protecting women’s incomes without procedural delays.

• Skill-to-job pathways: Women-focused green certifications with placement linkages address both skills mismatch and hiring bias in renewable manufacturing.

• Asset ownership push: Women-registered rooftop solar under PM Surya Ghar strengthens asset control, credit access, and energy decision-making.

• Circular formalisation: Municipal contracts for women waste-pickers institutionalise informal work into dignified green employment with income security.

Conclusion:

India’s green transition will succeed only if it becomes women-led, not women-adjacent. Unlocking women’s productivity across energy, circularity, and nature-based solutions can convert climate action into inclusive growth and social transformation. A gender-responsive green economy is not welfare—it is core economic strategy.

Q. Examine the role of solar energy in transforming women’s economic empowerment in India, particularly in rural areas. How can policies further strengthen this empowerment by positioning women as change agents rather than mere beneficiaries? (10 M)