Gender and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform

The report finds a significant lack of primary quantitative research on how fossil fuel subsidy reforms specifically affect women. It argues that while subsidies are generally regressive—benefiting wealthier households—their removal can disproportionately harm poor women due to their primary responsibility for domestic energy tasks and limited intra-household bargaining power. The document reviews the potential for mitigation measures, such as conditional cash transfers and targeted energy vouchers, and outlines a mixed-methods research plan for Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria to analyze impacts on women's welfare, productivity, and empowerment.

• There is a critical lack of primary, quantitative research specifically addressing the gender-differentiated impacts of fossil fuel subsidy reforms.
• Fossil fuel subsidies are generally regressive, with a large portion of benefits captured by wealthier households rather than the poor.
• Women in low-income households are likely to bear a disproportionate burden of subsidy reforms because they are primarily responsible for domestic chores and often have limited power over household spending.
• Increased energy prices resulting from reforms can push households back toward traditional biomass fuels, which increases women's time spent on fuel collection and exposes them to indoor air pollution.
• In Nigeria, kerosene subsidies are regressive and prone to corruption, with black market diversion often resulting in prices significantly higher than the official subsidised rate of ₦50 per litre.
• India's Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme has faced challenges where subsidies are transferred to the male head of household and not always passed to the women who manage household expenditure.
• In Bangladesh, solar home systems (SHS) have demonstrated positive gender impacts, including a reduction in kerosene consumption and an increase in women's time for reading and tutoring children.
• Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) can mitigate the income loss from subsidy reform, but they may reinforce traditional gender roles by linking payments to women's roles as caregivers.
• Targeted energy interventions, such as LPG voucher schemes in Peru (FISE), can effectively encourage a shift away from biomass and improve health and financial outcomes for poor households.
• The report proposes a mixed-methods research approach for Phase 2, combining secondary data audits, interviews, surveys, and focus group discussions to measure impacts on women's welfare, productivity, and empowerment.

APA

Kitson, L., Merrill, L., Beaton, C., Sharma, S., McCarthy, A., Singh, C., Sharma, A., Parikh, J., Ohaeri, V. I., & Chowdhury, T. T. (2016). Gender and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/gender-fossil-fuel-subsidy-reform-current-status-research.pdf

Chicago

Kitson, Lucy, Laura Merrill, Christopher Beaton, Shruti Sharma, Andrew McCarthy, Chandrashekhar Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, et al. Gender and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2016. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/gender-fossil-fuel-subsidy-reform-current-status-research.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kitson |first1=Lucy |last2=Merrill |first2=Laura |last3=Beaton |first3=Christopher |last4=Sharma |first4=Shruti |last5=McCarthy |first5=Andrew |last6=Singh |first6=Chandrashekhar |last7=Sharma |first7=Ashutosh |last8=Parikh |first8=Jyoti |last9=Ohaeri |first9=Victoria Ihuoma |display-authors=etal |title=Gender and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=August 2016 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/gender-fossil-fuel-subsidy-reform-current-status-research.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kitson2016gender, author = {Kitson, Lucy and Merrill, Laura and Beaton, Christopher and Sharma, Shruti and McCarthy, Andrew and Singh, Chandrashekhar and Sharma, Ashutosh and Parikh, Jyoti and Ohaeri, Victoria Ihuoma and Chowdhury, Tahreen Tahrima}, title = {{Gender and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2016}, month = aug, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/gender-fossil-fuel-subsidy-reform-current-status-research.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }