The study underscores the need for gender analysis of political and economic processes to understand the strategic energy needs of rural women and men, who have experienced marginalization and exclusion in the development of energy infrastructure. The central research question is: how can rural women be empowered to gain access to modern energy services in both production and social reproduction?. The study is carried out in India and Nepal at three levels, macro, meso and micro. The dataset pertains to the micro level - households- where energy services are delivered and used and where social norms defines women’s access and use of energy.