Clean cooking fuels are generally assumed to bring health and other benefits for women compared with solid fuels, which suggests they should be preferred. However, despite the availability of clean cooking fuels, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the scale of solid fuel use in rural India remains large. Here we examine women’s positions on fuel transition and multidimensional well-being through a qualitative analysis of data from focus group discussions with comparable groups of women who have versus those who have not transitioned to LPG. We show that women who use firewood believe their cooking fuel supports their well-being in several ways, and see no enabling relationship between LPG use and well-being. In contrast, LPG users—who were previous firewood users—claim LPG has enabled well-being. These results suggest that perspectives on the relationship between fuel and well-being shift after transition, due to the realization of new advantages. Understanding differences in the perspectives of women using different fuels is vital to unpack the dynamics of cooking fuel transition.

一般认为，与固体燃料相比，清洁的烹调燃料可为妇女带来健康和其他好处，这表明应首选食用。然而，尽管可获得清洁的烹饪燃料，例如液化石油气（LPG），但印度农村地区的固体燃料使用规模仍然很大。在这里，我们通过对焦点小组讨论的数据进行定性分析，考察了妇女在燃料过渡和多维福祉方面的立场，小组讨论的对象是与未过渡到LPG的可比女性组。我们显示，使用柴火的妇女认为自己的烹饪燃料以多种方式支持她们的幸福，而LPG的使用与幸福之间没有任何有利的关系。相比之下，以前使用木柴的LPG用户则声称LPG带来了幸福。这些结果表明，由于实现了新的优势，人们对过渡后燃料与幸福感之间关系的看法也有所不同。理解女性使用不同燃料的观点差异对于揭示烹饪燃料过渡的动态至关重要。