International Women’s Day is on 8 March, 2023, with a global theme of innovation and technology for gender equality. Lisa Balk, Australian sales director at GridBeyond, writes that women’s participation in the energy sector is essential for a fair and green future.
Gender equality in the energy industry is emerging as an international priority. With the theme for International Women’s Day on 8 March, 2023, being “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”, it highlights why the energy transition provides a unique opportunity to address gender imbalance in the sector.
The energy industry has long been male dominated, and despite significant progress to address this in recent years, more effort is needed. The Federal Government is committed to achieving gender equality in the energy sector by 2030, and on 17 January, 2023, it formalised this commitment by signing up to the equal pay, equal leadership and equal opportunity objectives of the global “Equal By 30” campaign. In its latest report, the “Equal By 30” initiative estimates women account for 32 per cent of the energy sector. This figure is just 19 per cent for board roles.
There is no single issue that stands out in relation to gender inequality in the energy sector, but as a woman working at a senior level in the industry, there is a gradual and persistent accumulation of factors that can have a negative impact over time. There are several key ways in which this can be addressed:
- It should be recognised that the effect of regularly being the only woman in a room is exhausting. A sense of belonging cannot be underestimated. Women need positive role models in senior positions or access to likeminded networks to help fill the gap to ensure they can get the inspiration and support that will drive them to do the best job possible.
- Flexibility in terms of role and working patterns is needed for all employees throughout careers. Parental leave, childcare, school pickups and care needs should be accommodated for all. It should be recognised that women are not looking to work or commit less, but in many cases they manage the lion’s share of family issues. Organisations and culture can play a huge role in creating a supportive environment to enable this balance by providing flexibility to their employees.
- Many organisations have improved at modifying their recruitment processes to attract women. But to keep them, there needs to be adaptation to ongoing processes to ensure different skills and behaviours that women bring to an organisation are fully credited. Unconscious bias is still a major contributor to women feeling as though their voices are not heard, and them having limited opportunities for promotion.
- Many “solutions” today tend to focus on helping women change – they are sent on courses to build confidence; become more assertive or develop leadership traits. In other words, to behave and act more like men. This is not the answer. Organisational cultures, working environments and accepted behaviours are where the focus needs to be.
While gender is increasingly a multidimensional notion, the main focus in the energy sector is currently on the male-female composition of the workforce. But equality could be helped by the clean energy transition, which will create new jobs and exploit the full potential of a more diverse workforce.
By 2030, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) expects the number of jobs in the energy sector could rise to 139 million – compared to 12.7 million in 2021 – including more than 74 million in energy efficiency, electric vehicles, power systems/flexibility and hydrogen.
Compared to the fossil fuel industry, renewable energies and other technologies and processes associated with the energy transition – such as decentralised energy systems and microgrids – possess greater appeal to women and provide more opportunities for them. However, women’s participation in renewables is much lower in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs than in other types of roles.
As the energy transition gathers pace, our focus must remain on fostering diversity in ways that offer equal opportunities across the board. Actions are needed to ease entry into the industry and improve career prospects and progression.
Initiatives to build awareness of the complexity of the barriers women face are vital. In addition, national policies are needed to create safer spaces and better workplace practices, policies and regulations.
Women need networks and systems to support training and mentorship, and to allow their talents to be fully utilised. Doing so would benefit them as individuals and the wider energy sector.