Empowered by Energy: A Review and Text Mining Analysis of Research on Clean Cooking Fuel and Women's Empowerment

This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis combined with text mining to explore the influence of clean cooking fuel on women's empowerment. Here, we have analyzed 305 research publications indexed in the Web of Science to explore trends in research on clean cooking fuels, shedding light on their intersection with gender dynamics, health, and socio‐economic development. The bibliometric analysis showed a significant growth in terms of published papers from 2015 onwards, influenced by global attention to clean energy and its socio‐environmental benefits. We identified six common topics through topic modeling, including the health benefits of clean cooking technologies for women, reduced indoor air pollution, and the socio‐economic advantage of cleaner fuels. The results underscore the critical role of clean cooking fuels in enhancing women's health, reducing their domestic labor burden, and advancing gender equality. Geographical disparities in how impactful research is highlighted; the USA and China lead for citations. Despite such progress, challenges such as economic and cultural barriers to adoption in rural populations remain, necessitating targeted policy action. Although previous literature had focused on clean energy transitions, this study contributes by demonstrating the potential benefits of clean cooking programs on women's empowerment and general well‐being. This article is categorized under: Human and Social Dimensions > Gender Equity Sustainable Development > Goals Policy and Economics > Research and Development