The relationship between electricity consumption and improvement in women's welfare in Africa

This study empirically verifies the hypothesis of a link between electricity consumption and improvement in women's welfare. It tests the hypothesis that increased electricity consumption can improve women's welfare. Africa serves as the empirical referent and loglinear regression techniques are employed to test the hypothesis. Improvement in women's welfare is operationalized in terms of the UNDP Gender Development Index (GDI), while electricity consumption is quantified as kilo-Watt hours (kWh) of electricity consumed per capita. Colonial era policies, operationalized in terms of erstwhile colonial powers' nationality is employed as a controlling factor. The hypothesis of a positive relationship between electricity consumption and improvement in women's welfare is confirmed. This lends some credence to theories that advocate increasing electricity consumption as a viable strategy for empowering women. As much as half (R2 = 0.50, F = 12.97, sig. p