Energy Poverty and Women’s Economic Well-Being in Global South: Evidence from Burkina Faso

Abstract

Although the relationship between household access to energy and economic well-being has received increasing attention in recent years, studies of this link have generally focused on unidimensional measures of fuel poverty. What is the link between multidimensional energy poverty and women’s economic well-being? Using data from the Continuous Multisectoral Survey on Household Living Conditions, this paper focuses on quantifying energy poverty and its effect on the economic well-being of households, particularly women, in Burkina Faso within a multidimensional framework. The results indicate that 84% of households are in a situation of multidimensional energy poverty. These energy-poor households are deprived, on average in 67.01% of the indicators. The results of the econometric estimations show that an increase in multidimensional energy deprivation is associated with a decrease in women’s economic well-being. Given that energy poverty reduces women’s economic well-being, they should be given priority in the implementation of energy policies.