Does access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking promote women’s participation in wage and salaried employment? Empirical evidence in developing countries

Purpose This paper examines the impact of access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking on female salaried employment and gender equality in wage and salaried employment in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on data from 130 countries over the period 2000–2022 and using instrumental variable quantile regression. Findings The findings indicate that access to clean cooking increases the share of women in wage and salaried employment and enhances gender equality in this category of work. Practical implications These results suggest that policymakers should prioritize the transition to cleaner cooking energy as a strategy to promote female salaried employment and gender equality in the labor market. Originality/value Microeconomic studies in particular show that clean cooking methods promote women’s economic empowerment in developing countries. Despite this evidence, little attention has been paid to the macroeconomic link between access to clean cooking fuels and women’s paid employment in developing countries. This article helps to fill this gap by examining the macroeconomic effects of access to clean cooking fuels and technologies on women’s paid employment in urban and rural areas of developing countries.