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The Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition (GWNET) recently launched the study on “Women for Sustainable Energy: Strategies to Foster Women’s Talent for Transformational Change” in order to exploit opportunities for women and facilitate a more inclusive energy transition. This study was built around the current status of women’s integration into the corporate sustainable energy sector and the barriers that women routinely encounter. In addition, it contains comprehensive recommendations to promote women’s participation building on experiences and existing best-practices.

As the global energy transition advances, the full inclusion of women and their potential is becoming more urgent, especially in the context of providing women with access to modern energy services. The study emphasises the need to upscale the representation of women in the energy sector. Currently, only 22 % of the job positions are occupied by women in the traditional energy sector and 32 % in the renewable energy workforce. In order to implement SDG 7 (Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all) and unfold a deep societal transformation, women’s inclusion is a must.

The study elaborates on the examined policy goals for energy transition as well gender and diversity policies in the sustainable energy context, while introducing the macro-economic case for gender parity and emphasizing the value of diversity in this context. Based on interviews that were conducted with 34 women and men from 14 countries across the globe, empirical evidence was gathered and analyzed by a tool, namely the Structural Environmental Analysis, developed by USAID to further increase women’s engagement. Building on the collected evidence, a set of strategies was selected to inspire women’s equal inclusion in the sustainable energy sector.

These strategies include:

• „establishing and implementing quotas;
•  attracting more women and girls to STEM;
• designing inclusive recruitment practices;
• strategies for an inclusive workplace;
• bringing more women into senior decision-making roles;
• building increased transparency and accountability;
• utilizing existing resources and toolkits; and
• supporting coalitions that aim at elevating the sector’s inclusiveness.” (Source: Women for Sustainable Energy: Strategies to Foster Women’s Talent for Transformational Change)

The study concludes with recommendations to support women and create a more inclusive sustainable energy sector. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of a concerted action on the national and international level by forming coalitions between governments, industry, associations, women’s network as well as international organizations to achieve a multi-level structural transformation. 

The study can be downloaded here: https://www.globalwomennet.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Gwnet-study.pdf

This study was also recently presented during a webinar by GFSE’s President, Ambassador Irene Giner-Reichl. You can soon find the recording of the webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/user/cleanenergypolicy/videos