It is only 9 a.m., but already the sun is high in the sky and Lad Devi and her co-workers at the Dooni dairy cooperative are hard at it. As milk arrives from the surrounding farms, they work quickly to get it weighed and into the refrigerators without which it would spoil within hours in the intense heat of India’s desert state Rajasthan, where temperatures reach highs of 45 degrees Celsius (113 F).
Just a few years ago, these women rarely ventured outside their homes. When they did, they covered their heads and faces in line with the local culture in one of India’s most socially conservative states. Now, they chat loudly as they work, their bare faces showing confident expressions.
The women say their lives have been transformed since 2014, when they came together to form a dairy cooperative. Each kept cows and buffaloes, which they had received as a dowry when they married, according to tradition, and any milk their families did not consume was theirs to sell. But electricity from the grid was both expensive and unreliable. Frequent power outages meant the milk that didn’t sell quickly often had to be thrown away.
When they got solar-powered refrigerators in 2021 everything changed. The dairy’s monthly electricity bill fell to 5,000 rupees (about 60 dollars), a fraction of what it had been before. Reliable power meant the women could double their income by sending in more milk, knowing it could be stored if it didn’t sell that day. They each make around 400 rupees a day – income that has helped change lives in this poor rural community.
“Before, if I had to go out, I would have to wait for my husband to give me money for the journey. Now I have my own,” says Devi, a 45-year-old mother of three.
“I am illiterate, but today I have so much confidence that I can speak to any man without hesitation and I can speak to people who come to my village from outside.”
Female literacy rates still lag those of men in India, despite decades of progress. In Rajasthan, the gap is particularly wide, with just 65 percent of women able to read and write, according to government data. More than one in four girls in the state marries before the legal age of 18, another indicator of gender inequality.
Experts believe India, which overtook China as the world’s most populous nation last year, will have to address those inequalities if it is to reap the economic rewards of a rapidly growing youth population. In rural areas, where job opportunities are more limited, improving energy access could be key, according to research published in 2023.
India remains a predominantly rural society – more than two-thirds of the population lives in the countryside, according to World Bank data. The government says every village now has electricity, but it is expensive and unreliable. Instead, rural communities are increasingly adopting solar power, and there is growing evidence that women are among the biggest beneficiaries.
In recent years, India has installed over 700,000 solar-powered water pumps, meaning women no longer have to walk long distances to fetch water and expose themselves to sexual harassment and abuse. Solar lighting has replaced kerosene lanterns, whose toxic fumes disproportionately impact women and children because they spend more time in the home. And labor-saving devices from electric breadmakers to solar-powered refrigerators have made housework easier while opening up new possibilities for paid work.
Many, like the women in Dooni, start with self-help groups – collectives formed under the aegis of a government programme to empower rural women and reduce poverty.
The Indian company that made the solar fridges used in Dooni, Devidayal Solar Solutions, didn’t set out to target women. But founder Tushar Devidayal says it soon became clear that women were behind much of the demand for their fridges. The company also operates in Uganda, Tanzania and Somalia and says more than half its global users are women.
Selco India, another manufacturer of solar appliances, estimates that around 60-70% of users of its products are women. Chief project manager CR Parthasarathy says women’s self-help groups like the one in Dooni drove the demand for solar-powered home lighting over the past two decades, and are now doing the same for solar appliances that can support small businesses.
The women behind the Dooni dairy cooperative are clear that it has changed their lives. Inspired by them, other villagers have begun buying solar lamps at a cost of around 1,500 rupees (about 18 dollars) and setting up solar panels strong enough to power a fan, charge mobile phones and run a few lights.
It may also change the lives of the next generation. Several of the women say they are using the proceeds of the dairy business to send their children to school – an opportunity they were never given in a culture that has historically prioritized boys’ education.
“Before, everything was a big struggle,” says Geeta Devi Gujjar, a 48-year-old mother of three. “I had to depend on my husband for everything, but now I know I can handle things myself. I have more courage now.”
*This is an edited version of a longer article available here on The Fuller Project’s website.