Bonding, not bridging: LPG use and reallocation of time saved in rural India

Access to clean cooking fuel is often linked to women’s empowerment through reductions in cooking time and greater labor market participation. However, empowerment extends beyond employment, encompassing the ability to build and mobilize social capital. Using nationally representative data from the 2019 Indian Time Use Survey, this paper investigates whether adoption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in rural households is associated with the reallocation of women’s time savings toward activities that strengthen bonding (close-knit networks) and bridging (connections across diverse social groups) social capital—an underexplored but critical dimension of empowerment. Our econometric analysis, which accounts for potential endogeneity, indicates that women in households using LPG rather than biomass report spending about 3% more time in social activities (approximately 33 additional hours per year). Strikingly, the gains are concentrated in bonding activities such as socializing and religious activities (12 and 13 hours per year, respectively), with a negligible increase in bridging activities, like civic or community engagement (2 hours per year). Heterogeneity analysis shows that older women and those already socially active benefit most, suggesting uneven empowerment pathways that perpetuate existing inequalities. These results suggest that access to clean fuel is associated with higher levels of women’s agency, not only through health and labor-related pathways but also through potentially stronger social networks that underpin voice, support, and livelihood opportunities. The findings underscore the importance of integrating energy policy with gender and community development initiatives.