Intersection of Gender & Environment: Tracing a Policy Aim
Analysing the Gender Budgeting Policy 2001, with focus on its provision on non-conventional energy
Introduction
The world is shifting toward a clean energy future, but for millions of women in rural India, the energy crisis has always been deeply personal due to the reality of spending countless hours collecting firewood and enduring chronic health risks from smoky, traditional cookstoves. Recognizing this burden, the 2001 Gender Budgeting Policy made a bold, yet simple commitment: to promote clean energy sources like biogas and smokeless chulhas by explicitly involving women as agents of change.
The policy had a dual ambition: to reduce global harm by “influencing ecosystem” while simultaneously “changing the lifestyles of rural women.” This report undertakes a critical evaluation of this landmark promise. I examine whether the specific choice of phrases, such as “non-conventional energy sources” and the mandate that “women will be involved in spreading the use,” create a robust, effective framework, or did it introduce inherent ambiguities that complicate accountability and design? This analysis deconstructs the provision's language and historical context to determine if this legislative objective is truly well written.
Tracing the Policy Aim
Pre Policy Drivers
Before the Gender Budgeting policy came about in 2001, the impetus to acknowledge the position of women in environmental conservation and non-conventional energy could be noticed in multiple global, national and grassroots developments. Internationally, Chapter 24 of the Rio Earth Summit and Agenda 21(United Nations Conference on Environment & Development, 1992) and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (United Nations Women, 1995) advocated for women’s role in environmental decision making. The 2001 policy cites these international commitments.
Nationally, the National Perspective Plan for Women, 1998 and provisions focusing on environment in the Eighth and Ninth Five Year Plans recognised how women were dependent on forests, fuel and water, thereby the need for clean energy technologies such as biogas or smokeless chulhas. Many analyses highlighted how women were bearing the disproportionate burden of fetching fuel and fodder, faced health hazards from indoor air pollution with no access to clean energy sources. Adverse effect of environmental degradation will be prominently felt on them. (Agarwal, 1992, 1994; Maria & Shiva, 1993; Shiva, 1988).
Phrasing of the Policy Provision
The said policy provision sought to shift the perspective of women from being the beneficiaries to being the change makers considering their contribution and vulnerabilities. The same could be perceived by pondering over the use of words like ‘involvement,’ ‘spreading use.’ The phrase ‘visible impact…changing the lives of rural women,’ shows policy’s aim towards convergence of social, ecological and empowerment goals. Talking about the involvement of women, while the words are visionary, but they lack the mandate of professional training or compensated roles. Hence, posing an institutional interpretation risk by relying solely on women’s existing, unpaid domestic labour for promotion and maintenance.
The specific provision gives a broad mandate of encouraging the use of “non-conventional energy sources” which marked a difference from the centralised fossil fuel dependence. This phrase implicitly acknowledged the slump of the previous welfare-based programs, such as the National Programme on Improved Chulha (NPIC) (The Hindu, 2013). It still legitimises women’s centrality in moving forward.
The Dual Objective
The policy provision sought to achieve two objectives, the one being involvement of women, addressing the social benefits part and the second being the mandate for a "visible impact... in influencing ecosystem" strategically elevated the issue to high-level environmental governance. This link was well aligned with India’s contribution to International Climate goals such as the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.
Stakeholders’ Perspectives & Experiences
Rural Women
They being the primary beneficiaries experienced significant improvements in health, time management and economic opportunities. There has been a reduction in respiratory and eye diseases among women with the introduction of smokeless chulhas. Positive social and economic impacts were noted in Tuber Kmai village of Megahalaya such as improved health and reduced cooking time (Prasad et al., 2023). A story similar to this is of Bhadohi district as well where reduction in drudgery was noticed. (Singh, Chaudhary, Choudhary, & Gautam, 2018). Therefore, solar energy initiatives enhanced women’s livelihoods with reliable energy sources for various activities, improving their economic status while reducing their dependence on traditional biomass fuels (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit [GIZ], 2025).
Challenges with respect to adoption still persist due to cultural resistance or lack of training (Khandelwal, 2017). Cost, availability and maintenance requirements also limit adoption (Das & Panda, 2017). Additionally, there are many programs which lack a gender responsive design, thus limiting their effectiveness in addressing the specific needs and challenges still faced by women. (GIZ, 2025)
Government Agencies
Government agencies battled the institutional perception of energy sector being inherently neutral, therefore leading to improper consideration of women’s needs or priorities during the design phase (ADB, 2018). Additionally, there was a lack of capacity to build gender awareness and sensitivity to develop consistent gender policies in field operations (World Bank, 2018).
Despite these limitations, the policy was still operationalised by the government agencies through centralized fiscal commitment. To promote clean cooking and lighting in rural households, the National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP), for example, provided substantial Central Financial Assistance. (IEA, n.d.). However, the accountability was based on measurable output indicators such as the number of units installed than long term substantive reform or sustained ecosystem influence (Centre for Gender Economics Africa, 2022).
NGOs & CSOs
CSOs have been at the forefront in translation of policy into tangible impact. Organisations such as the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) built successful local biogas models in villages like Ballal (Asian Farmers’ Association, n.d.). Some field studies demonstrated women saving about 70 hours/year of labour time by using improved cookstoves. The saved time was repurposed for family activities and social engagement (Practical Action, 2016). CSOs play an important role being vital feedback loop for providing expert inputs to bodies such as NITI AAYOG and the Ministry of Women and Child.
However, barriers to involvement of NGOs and CSOs have been affordability and sustained adoption. Costs of adopting cleaner cooking methods have been a hurdle to poor households even with government subsidies. (Kar & Zerriffi, 2018, as cited in Varghese, 2023). Another contended reality they had to deal with was a lack of specificity in the centralised policies to address unique needs of local women (ADB, 2018).
Academicians / Policy Analysts
The role of Policy Analysts and Gender Economists played an important role in establishing foundation for framework of methodology for Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) and Gender-Based Analysis (GBA) (Patel, 2010). They put continuous pressure on the government so as to retain a gender specific lens on major national plans (Rao et al., 2019). Bridging the critical data gap, enhancing fiscal transparency and facilitating crucial policy research were important functions performed by academic and civil society initiatives, such as the Open Budgets India (OBI) portal by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) (Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, 2022).
There were also hurdles such as availability and accessibility of information on budgets at different levels which hindered the ability to conduct an in-depth assessment of policy design and financial implementation (Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, 2022). Additionally, Analysts identified the difference between well written policies and the absence of operational muscle, needed by Gender Focal Units in technical ministries to put ideas into sustained practice (UNIDO, 2011; Voorn et al., n.d.).
Critical Evaluation & Future Recommendations
As per my critical evaluation the said policy provision is pioneering but functionally weak. The policy provision was strategically well written as it integrated multiple development goals such as health, time poverty reduction (Practical Action, 2016) and environmental protection by linking domestic fuel use to black carbon emissions and climate goals (ADB, 2018; Rao et al., 2019). This provided the necessary political legitimacy and budgetary justification for non-conventional energy (IEA, n.d.).
There exist some inherent ambiguities in the drafting of the policy contributing to a weak accountability framework. First being vague participatory mandate. The phrase “involved in spreading the use” was a point of disappointment as it lacked required institutional muscle, through professional training, decision making power or financial allocation. This would dilute the empowerment objective due to reliance on women’s pre-existing, unpaid social capital and labour.
Second being, unmeasurable strategic objective. Specifying “influencing ecosystem” was good for budgetary legitimacy but there wasn’t a mandate for corresponding, measurable indicators tied to budgetary expenditure. This enabled the implementation agencies to focus on easier short-term outputs than long term.
Conclusion & Recommendations for Modification
In all fairness, the 2001 Policy provision is historic and well written. However, its drafting lacked the required institutional rigour to ensure its success. The text could be modified for improvements in the following manner:
Refine the Participatory Mandate: “Involved in spreading the use” could be replaced with a directive for compensated skill development and decision-making inclusion in project design and management.
Mandate Analytical Rigour: Compulsorily requiring a Gender-Based Analysis (GBA) (Patel, 2000–2001) at the project design stage and a Gender Impact Statement with publicly available (Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability [CBGA], 2022), gender-disaggregated data be produced alongside every budgetary allocation.
Institutionalize Operational Capacity: The Policy could direct transitioning Gender Focal Persons within technical ministries into fully equipped Gender Focal Units (GFUs). They must possess dedicated financial resources and limited local capacity. (United Nations Industrial Development Organization [UNIDO], 2011)
By adding this prescriptive, enforceable language, the policy can bridge the gap between its pioneering rhetoric and lasting functional impact.
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