In India, one hundred and sixty million people, especially women and children, spend long hours gathering biofuels and suffer the health consequences of carrying heavy loads and from the pollution from burning biofuels. If they did not have to gather fuel, these hours could be used towards their self-development or for economically productive activities and hence alleviate poverty. The intersection of energy, poverty alleviation and gender is a key issue that needs to be addressed.
This study attempts to explore and establish the linkages among gender, empowerment, energy, environment and health issues in Himachal Pradesh (HP). HP was selected for the study as it is seen as one of the four most progressive states in India and where government has a policy to allocate an additional quota of clean fuels (LPG, kerosene) to hilly areas in order to prevent deforestation (20 litres per household as against 5 litres elsewhere in India).
Findings of the study shows that:

Women in HP are relatively strongly empowered and exercise this power in decision-making at all level

Although the state has progressed in terms of education, asset ownership etc., the use of new energy technology remains on the periphery and the brunt of this lack of progress is faced primarily by women

Women, especially those in the 30-60 age group, and older men in HP are at the greatest risk of having respiratory diseases
women in HP suffer drudgery due to using biofuels and are willing to shift to clean fuels; and
income from kerosene sales constituted only 2% of their total incomes and most viewed this business as only as sideline Low demand and low profits deter people from opening a shop to sell the kerosene quotas in the state

The study also shows that empowerment level and access to energy are correlated in HP. Both the empowerment level and access to energy in HP are above the all–India averages. Even within HP, the two districts investigated in more detail, with different levels of access to fuels, have different levels of empowerment. The paper concludes that gender and energy are closely linked but have remained on the periphery of development policy. It states that greater political will as well as cooperation among government ministries, development agencies and community organisations is necessary to give women access to modern fuels and free them from daily drudgery.