Women’s empowerment as a pathway to sustainable and modern energy for all: evidence from the Demographic and Health Surveys

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Household air pollution (HAP) is a leading cause of environmental pollution and health burden. Many countries in Africa cook with polluting fuels (main cause of HAP). Women’s empowerment (WE) is known to improve healthcare service use, child nutrition and agricultural productivity. In Africa, however, little is known about the relationship between WE and household fuel use. We aimed to examine if WE is associated with cooking fuel use in Africa, and whether it varies between countries. METHODS: We used the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2003 and 2018 (n= 264 269 [women-household pairs]). We used a novel, Africa-specific index (Survey-based Women’s emPowERment index), including three dimensions of empowerment: attitude to violence, social independence and decision-making. We used hierarchical logistic regression models to assess the relationship between WE dimensions and the type of fuel used in the household (‘clean’: electricity, liquefied petroleum gas, biogas or natural gas; ‘polluting’: solid fuels or kerosene). Results from binomial and multinomial regressions were expressed as odds ratios (OR). The country-specific estimates were combined using meta-analysis. RESULTS:Only 43 778 (14.5%) households used clean fuels. Overall, 12/31, 22/31 and 13/31 country-level estimates showed a significant association between a one standard deviation increase in attitude to violence, social independence and decision-making (higher scores indicate greater empowerment) dimensions, respectively, and higher odds of using clean fuel as primary energy source for cooking. The estimates from random-effect meta-analyses showed that increased empowerment was associated with higher odds of using clean fuel for attitude to violence (OR = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.12–1.33), social independence (OR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.28–1.42), and decision-making (OR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.05–1.15). CONCLUSIONS:These results suggest that empowering women in these dimensions has potential to mitigate global climate, and accelerate transitions to clean fuel in Africa. An integrated multi-sector effort could be crucial. KEYWORDS: Air pollution, Climate, Environmental disparities, Exposure, Female, Policy