Can Access to Affordable and Clean Energy Advance Gender Equality? Evidence on the SDG 7–SDG 5 Nexus from Latin America

Gender inequality remains a major global challenge, while limited access to modern energy continues to constrain women’s economic and social opportunities and well-being, particularly in developing countries. This study examines the relationship between modern energy access and gender inequality by providing empirical evidence on the SDG 7–SDG 5 nexus in Latin America. Gender inequality is examined across three dimensions: employment, health, and overall gender equality. Modern energy access is examined through four indicators: overall, rural, and urban access to electricity and access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking, while per capita electricity consumption is included as a complementary indicator of energy use. Using panel data from Latin American countries, the relationships are estimated using the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) approach. The results reveal considerable heterogeneity across gender dimensions, energy indicators, and quantiles. Access to clean cooking is positively associated with gender equality in employment across all quantiles, whereas electricity access and consumption indicators are statistically insignificant. For health, electricity and clean cooking access and higher electricity consumption are generally associated with lower female adult mortality relative to men, although the association with rural electricity access weakens at higher quantiles. Overall electricity access is positively associated with the Global Gender Gap Index across all quantiles, while the associations with clean cooking and electricity consumption vary across the distribution. These findings demonstrate that the relationship between modern energy access and gender inequality is heterogeneous across energy indicators and gender outcomes.