ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

Feminization of Energy Poverty in China: Contrasting Urban and Rural Experiences

Not scheduled

20m

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

Oral Track 05 | ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE

Speaker

Dr Jing Wu (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University)

Description

Promoting gender equality and access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy are two pivotal components of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations. Specifically, SDG7 calls for reducing dependence on biomass materials (carbon-based fuel like wood, leaves, straw, cow dung, coal, etc.) as the main source of cooking fuel. Energy poverty is considered to have a woman’s face (Sánchez, Fernández and Peiró, 2020). Earlier studies have revealed that the use of biomass in cooking imposes time, health, and environmental costs on households (Bukari, Broermann and Okai, 2021), with such costs often falling on women due to their traditional roles. Furthermore, geographical inequalities in energy poverty further intensify these gendered burdens, particularly the urban-rural disparity.

According to Zhang et al. (2019), approximately 48.98% of Chinese households are still experiencing energy poverty, with over 400 million Chinese individuals relying on traditional biomass and coal for cooking. The challenge is even more serious in terms of energy disparity. More than 75% of rural households primarily used coal and firewood as fuel sources (i.e., 17.1% and 58.6% with coal and biomass respectively), while 8.2% and 36.1% of households in urban and township areas used solid fuels for cooking (Lu et al., 2022). These facts indicate that the urban-rural disparity in energy poverty is still a pressing issue in China. Undoubtedly, gender inequality in the context of energy poverty is also a critical issue in China. This issue is particularly associated with the Chinese Confucian culture (Li et al., 2023), which has long emphasized traditional gender roles and hierarchical social structures. This cultural framework continues to influence contemporary societal norms, limiting women’s access to energy resources and involvement in energy-related decisions, particularly in rural areas (Tang et al., 2020). As such, households influenced by Confucian culture tend to exhibit gender bias and are more likely to experience energy poverty. Therefore, promoting gender equality in energy poverty requires not only an economic solution but also a deep understanding of the cultural norms that shaped gendered access to energy. In this, it calls for a need for a comprehensive understanding of energy poverty as both a gendered and spatially embedded issue.

This paper employs a mixed-methods approach, which combines quantitative analysis of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database with qualitative semi-structure interviews to capture the multi-dimensional features of energy poverty. Quantitative findings reveal rural women are disproportionately affected by energy poverty due to limited infrastructure, restricted economic opportunities, and lower education level, leading to an overreliance on biomass and other polluting fuels. Building on these findings, the qualitative analysis delves deeper into the underlying social and cultural factors that exacerbate these disparities. It shows how traditional Confucian culture norms influence the domestic roles of females related to energy poverty, such as family status, and overall well-being. Consequently, the qualitative research uncovers systematic marginalization of women in energy planning and policy-making processes, emphasizing the cultural and structural barriers that constrain their agency and perpetuate energy poverty. Together, these findings underscore the multi-dimensional characteristics of energy poverty in China and the importance of addressing both structural inequalities and cultural norms in crafting equitable energy policies.

By examining the lived experiences of women in urban and rural China, this paper helps to see the deep-rooted cultural standards and structural obstacles that aggravate energy disparities. It emphasizes the urgency of transformative strategies that go beyond mere technical fixes, advocating for gender-sensitive policies, inclusive decision-making systems, and culturally informed interventions to address systematic inequalities. By integrating ecological sustainability with social and spatial justice, this paper contributes to the broader pursuit of equitable and resilient societies.

References

1. Bukari, C., Broermann, S. and Okai, D. (2021) 'Energy poverty and health expenditure: Evidence from Ghana,' Energy Economics, 103, p. 105565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105565.
2. Li, H. et al. (2023) 'When cooking meets confucianism: Exploring the role of traditional culture in cooking energy poverty,' Energy Research & Social Science, 97, p. 102956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.102956.
3. Lu, S. et al. (2022) 'Spatial-temporal energy poverty analysis of China from subnational perspective,' Journal of Cleaner Production, 341, p. 130907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.130907.
4. Sánchez, C.S.-G., Fernández, A.S. and Peiró, M.N. (2020) 'Feminisation of energy poverty in the city of Madrid,' Energy and Buildings, 223, p. 110157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110157.
5. Tang, S. et al. (2020) 'Balancing the yin and yang: TMT gender diversity, psychological safety, and firm ambidextrous strategic orientation in Chinese High-Tech SMEs,' Academy of Management Journal, 64(5), pp. 1578–1604. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2019.0378.
6. Zhang, D., Li, J. and Han, P. (2019) 'A multidimensional measure of energy poverty in China and its impacts on health: An empirical study based on the China family panel studies,' Energy Policy, 131, pp. 72–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.04.037.