I sat on the back staircase of my high school, staring at college level Microeconomics homework assignments I had no idea how to begin. I felt the pressure build in my throat and the cracking of my voice as I held back tears. I grew up a successful athlete and student––someone who never failed. With an open period in my schedule junior year and a desire to learn, I opted to be the first student at my high school to take college-level microeconomics online. Needless to say, it did not go well. After a month of muscling through the course materials, I dropped the class––a heart-wrenching decision for me at the age of seventeen. I emailed my teacher explaining my situation and thanking him for his time. His response read: "eventually, you are going to have to learn to effectively self-direct your effort, or accept a position in this society that does not require a lot of skills, one that rewards less and always requires direct supervision by someone who does know how to plan and self motivate."

His words stung, as they made me question not only myself as a student but also my character and the vision I had of myself as a driven, young woman. I questioned if he would have reacted the same way had one of his male students dropped the class. While many people encouraged me to let those words go, I use them to reflect as I experience my life through a new lens. I have challenged myself to gain a perspective that champions growing from failure, embracing vulnerabilities, and striving to be persistent (in things that matter to me).

In my first year at Santa Clara, I elected to take microeconomics partially out of spite but primarily out of curiosity and drive to succeed in the field. I was inspired by the connection economics had across various realms of my life––i.e., my interest in social entrepreneurship and the role that social entrepreneurs have in solving unjust equilibriums within the environmental realm while simultaneously working to address social problems regarding gender––and the duality that showcases both my analytical and mathematical skills within one subject.

Through a fellowship with Oorja Development Solutions in India, I used those skills to implement plans for scaling their business through gender-focused interventions. For Oorja to scale effectively, they needed to disaggregate their efforts by gender and implement solutions that recognize the nuanced differences between the needs of men and women both as customers of their products and as employees. This process is consistent with Oorja's mission to eventually positively impact the lives of all farmers in India.

I am fascinated by how social enterprises can be used as a catalyst for both environmental and social change, specifically regarding gender, both abroad and in the US. I aspire to launch my own international social enterprise that works with companies, using gender and social justice interventions to spur economic development. By utilizing impact models, I can empower companies to add value to the world and create awareness of the importance of incorporating social equity within their infrastructure. Through my work in economic development, sustainability, and gender relations, I will help companies expand the impact of their interventions and consequently grow their business. As a woman studying in a male-dominated field, I continue to challenge myself to grow as a student and an individual. I strive to amplify my voice and, in conjunction, the voices of the women around me. While gender equality is improving, women continue to be marginalized. I hope to accelerate women's empowerment to see a world where all women feel confident speaking up in male-dominated spaces, where women's lives aren't chosen for them, and where men are role models for gender equity.

Situating women in leadership positions throughout the world can both enhance women's agency and catalyze economic development. When analyzing the 2019 Gender Inequality Index (GII), the countries with the lowest GII scores had the highest female labor force participation rates. In India, women are largely excluded from mainstream economic activity and leadership positions. The 2021 Sustainable Development Goals energy tracking report described how India has made significant progress within the energy sector, yet the impact of this progress has reached few rural women due to the highly patriarchal society within India. The 2019 GII rated India 123 among 179 countries in terms of gender inequality, revealing that although the country is quickly moving to the forefront of the world stage, gender roles are far from competitive. Because of the patriarchal nature of India, as few as 20% of women are employed in either the formal or informal economy. Thus, India leads the world in population growth and is continuing to develop economically, but its potential is stifled by low gender equality.1

For India's economic growth to accelerate, it must bring women into both the formal economy and leadership positions. In many last-mile communities, women have taken over farming operations while their husbands travel to city centers to work. Many social enterprises, including Oorja Development Solutions (Oorja) have been formed to alleviate energy poverty for last-mile farming communities by utilizing solar mini-grid technology for irrigation. As the landscape of farmers becomes more female-dominated, leadership within social enterprises whose beneficiaries are the farmers must mirror the change by furthering internal female leadership. Through my time with Oorja, I met and consulted with Sasmita Patnik, a Gender Advisor with Water and Food for Energy (WE4F). I found that making gender equity a focus would help Oorja achieve its overall goals and eventually scale their enterprise. Female employees have an aptitude for conversing with both male and female beneficiaries to ultimately come to more useful conclusions about overall beneficiary perceptions of Oorja's services. The presence of female employees results in a safe space for all genders to open up about their experiences. Through a Fulbright, I hope to expand upon this research to generate a more comprehensive vision of how social enterprises can impact the lives of women, the attitudes within their communities, and ultimately the trajectory of development within the economy.

Tetra Tech, in conjunction with WE4F, consults with dozens of social enterprises that focus their efforts on bringing mini-grid technology to farmers in India. They work to help social enterprises realize their untapped potential due to stifling gender roles and help them to alter their business models to be more gender-inclusive. I worked in conjunction with WE4F to develop gender implementation strategies for Oorja so that they could scale their mission of alleviating energy poverty for last-mile farmers in India. WE4F has agreed to support my research on the impact social enterprises have on community gender perceptions. More specifically, my study of the developmental impact that solar mini-grid technology on farms has on women's agency and participation in leadership roles. While consulting with Oorja, I worked directly with Sasmita Patnik from Tetra Tech and WE4F, who provides technical consulting for gender interventions for twenty social enterprises. She has since invited me to continue my research with her through the lens of gender advisory. By understanding how direct gender interventions foster change within social enterprises, I will be strategically positioned to understand how social enterprises can fundamentally cause a positive shift in gender perceptions across India.

My Fulbright will expand the work done by Sasmita through a multifaceted approach gathering qualitative data on how social enterprises impact the communities they work in, specifically in terms of gender, while also working to gain quantitative insights, measuring both the scale of social enterprise advances due to gender interventions and gross value added to the region as a result of increased women's agency. I want to learn how social enterprises with missions of alleviating energy poverty for farmers impact gender perceptions and the scope of their impact. While consulting with Sasmita, I will learn how each enterprise functions and the prevalence of gender interventions within their companies. While the technical consulting will lay the groundwork for my research, I will continue by analyzing the data we find to come to conclusions about how the presence of each social enterprise changed the gender dynamics within households and communities. By consulting with Sasmita and the social enterprises she interfaces with, I will gain a better understanding of the variation between each enterprise's impact on women's agency and their ability to scale. Such findings will allow me to make generalizable conclusions about successful gender interventions that can be translated across many social enterprises and regions.

My affiliation with WE4F will be pivotal to the success of my research, as they already have the knowledge infrastructure in place to help companies implement gender interventions to scale social enterprise impact. I will utilize WE4F's previous experience to reach further conclusions regarding the overall impact that each social enterprise has on women's agency and the most effective methods to amplify gender change. Analysis on the impact that social enterprises have on gender is an increasingly important topic as social enterprises are gaining precedence. Social enterprises at the intersection of sustainable energy, water, and food production target women specifically as many of their traditional gender roles are centered within this sector so interventions here differentially benefit women. TetraTech, in partnership with WE4F, has agreed to supplement my Fulbright by giving me the resources to publish my findings. The broader impact of my research will be the publications and extension of the research that will be carried out after my Fulbright ends. Because WE4F is a well-established organization, I will be able to pass on my findings to encourage further implementation of my deliverables within the organization. Neither mini-grid technology nor gender inequality is unique to India, however, the prevalence of both can act as a model for social enterprises to use farming interventions to evoke social change.

With the knowledge gained through my research in India, I plan to pursue a Master's degree in Economic Development from Oxford University. Studying at Oxford will further my research ability as well as expand my perspective to appreciate the nuances within European gender perspectives. My Fulbright research and continued education will give me the tools to start my own venture which will translate the lessons learned in India and Europe to an international context. Gender inequality and energy poverty are pervasive throughout the world, but by gaining perspectives on how they impact various communities I will find translatable conclusions to evoke change within my own communities.