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Gender inequalities and household fuel choice in India

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  • Choudhuri, Pallavi
  • Desai, Sonalde

Abstract

The use of solid cooking fuels—wood, straw, crop residue, and cow-dung cakes—is associated with higher levels of environmental pollution and health burden. However, even in an era when incomes have grown and poverty has declined, the proportion of Indian households using clean cooking fuels such as kerosene or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has increased only slightly. Even among the wealthiest quintile, only about 40 percent of the households rely solely on clean fuel. Since the chores of cooking and collection of fuel remain primarily the domain of women, we argue that intra-household gender inequalities play an important role in shaping the household decision to invest in clean fuel. Analyses using data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), a panel survey of over 41,000 households conducted in two waves in 2004-05 and 2011–12, respectively, show that women’s access to salaried work and control over household expenditure decisions is associated with the use of clean fuel.

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  • Choudhuri, Pallavi & Desai, Sonalde, 2020. "Gender inequalities and household fuel choice in India," MPRA Paper 110340, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:110340
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ma, Wanglin & Vatsa, Puneet & Zheng, Hongyun, 2022. "Cooking fuel choices and subjective well-being in rural China: Implications for a complete energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    3. Ruddy Kaharudin Gobel & Bambang Shergi Laksmono & Martani Huseini & Mia Siscawati, 2024. "Equity and Efficiency: An Examination of Indonesia’s Energy Subsidy Policy and Pathways to Inclusive Reform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-26, January.
    4. Valentina Alvarez-Saavedra & Pierre Levasseur & Suneha Seetahul, 2022. "The role of gender inequality in the obesity epidemic: A case study from India," Working Papers hal-03744694, HAL.
    5. Vyas, Sangita & Gupta, Aashish & Khalid, Nazar, 2021. "Gender and LPG use after government intervention in rural north India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Li, Jiajia & Li, Houjian, 2022. "Spiritual support or living support: Which alleviates solid fuel use for rural households in ethnical minority regions of China?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 479-491.
    7. Kshitij Awasthi & Kiran Kumaraswamy & Natascia Boeri, 2021. "Helping when it matters: Optimal time for supporting women’s self‐employment in India," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 39(6), pages 971-989, November.
    8. Valentina Alvarez-Saavedra à & Pierre Levasseur & Suneha Seetahul, 2023. "The Role of Gender Inequality in the Obesity Epidemic: A Case Study from India," Post-Print hal-04051768, HAL.
    9. Utkarsh Patel & Deepak Kumar, 2020. "The Indian Energy Divide: Dissecting inequalities in the energy transition towards LPG," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) Working Paper 401, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi, India.
    10. Asibey, Michael Osei & Ocloo, Kafui Afi & Amponsah, Owusu, 2021. "Gender differences and productive use of energy fuel in Ghana’s rural non-farm economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PB).
    11. N. Brahmanandam & R. Nagarajan, 2021. "The Transition in Household Energy Use for Cooking in India: Evidence from a Longitudinal Survey," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 15(4), pages 433-455, November.
    12. Zhang, Huaquan & Yang, Fan & Chandio, Abbas Ali & Liu, Jing & Twumasi, Martinson Ankrah & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2023. "Assessing the effects of internet technology use on rural households' cooking energy consumption: Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    13. Fanghua Li & Abbas Ali Chandio & Yinying Duan & Dungang Zang, 2022. "How Does Clean Energy Consumption Affect Women’s Health: New Insights from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-16, June.
    14. Ma, Wanglin & Ma, Wanglin & Zheng, Hongyun, 2021. "Impacts of Cooking Fuel Choices on Subjective Well-Being: Insights from Rural China," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315149, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Shu Wu, 2021. "The Health Impact of Household Cooking Fuel Choice on Women: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-18, November.
    16. Nguyen, Canh Phuc, 2022. "Uncertainty and gender inequality: A global investigation," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 31-47.
    17. Ting Meng & Wojciech J. Florkowski & Daniel B. Sarpong & Manjeet Chinnan & Anna V. A. Resurreccion, 2021. "Cooking Fuel Usage in Sub-Saharan Urban Households," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    LPG; clean fuel; gender inequality; resource dependence; intra-household; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy

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