Gender and renewable energy integration: The mediating role of green-microfinance

Abstract Women empowerment is counted as the fifth sustainable development goal known as gender equality (SDG 5), and it is affected by many factors. In East Sumba, renewable energy development as the seventh sustainable development goal (SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy) provides opportunities and challenges in empowering women. Rural microfinance institutions (MFIs) enable women to increase their empowerment by managing energy. This paper explores the direct and indirect (mediated) effect of renewable energy on women's empowerment via green MFIs. We employed Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) with bootstrapping technique and Sobel test to perform the mediating effect. The findings showed the direct relationship of renewable energy on green MFIs and provided empirical evidence on the mediating effect of green MFIs. It confirms green MFIs sustainably, which operates based on the integration model of gender mainstreaming in the renewable energy sector. The results imply that the pro gender policy of local government in response to the availability of renewable energy supported by developing green MFIs.