What women want: Financing a gender-responsive clean cooking transition

Despite the clear health, socioeconomic and climate benefits of cooking with clean fuels, many people in low- and middle-income countries are unable to do so. Women and girls experience the effects of cooking poverty most acutely. This paper explores the nexus of clean cooking, gender and finance by investigating how the financial sector can be used as a lever of change to support a gender-responsive clean cooking transition. Expert interviews with funders, gender advisors, entrepreneurs and multilateral organisations reveal a system in which institutions do not treat women as socially, culturally or financially equal to men when it comes to eradicating cooking poverty. Nor do they recognise inherent differences in outlook and risk appetite between genders, or that credit assessments often rely on rigid criteria that can disproportionately exclude women. This results in a lack of visibility, agency and influence for women in policy and funding processes that affect them, and limited access to financial resources. Our research findings suggest a roster of institutional and societal reforms that, if enacted, could lead to substantial progress in advancing a gender-just clean cooking transition. We call attention to public banks as influential institutions with mandates to address structural barriers to socioeconomic development. By mainstreaming gender in their funding operations, taking a proactive approach to women's financial inclusion, and nurturing a more gender-responsive financing ecosystem, public banks can contribute significantly to eradicating cooking poverty, reducing gender-based discrimination and improving women's livelihoods.