Energy


Chapter 2 GLOBAL GENDER AND ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK


all its diversity, gender-disaggregated data are mostly missing (and are needed) on energy-related needs, preferences, income and expenditures, decision- making, benefits and impacts, staffing, employment, and access to credit and information (Cecelski 2002).


Other policies and legislation which are not directly energy-related can also have gendered impacts on energy use and access. Persistent income gaps between women and men (despite equal-pay legislation in some countries) will continue to influence gender differences in access to energy. Land tenure, ownership and inheritance systems can limit women’s access to land and financial resources, thus reducing their access to collateral for investments including in sustainable energy.


Gendered leadership and participation in formal planning and policy


The leadership and employment profile of the energy industry is profoundly gender-skewed. Women are under-represented in national government positions of importance to the sector, with only 7% female ministers in the fields of environment, natural resources and energy, and 3% in science and technology (UNIDO and UN Women 2013). In the European Union in 2011, 66.1% of high-level positions in national ministries covering environmental affairs were occupied by men (EIGE 2012). A study in three EU Member States (Sweden, Germany and Spain) showed that 64% of the largest energy companies in these countries had no women on their executive boards or in executive management groups (Carlsson-Kanyama et al. 2010).


In international responding to


decision-making processes climate change, which will for require


transformation of the energy industry, most negotiators are men. Consequently, the fora in which energy issues are identified and potential solutions proposed are likely to have an inadvertent male bias (WEDO 2016; UNIDO and UN Women 2013).


There is room for debate on whether a larger number of women in decision-making positions would make a difference to the nature of energy policy – and how large the number would need to be to make a difference. Because masculine norms and power are deeply institutionalized in energy and climate-relevant institutions, policy-makers, regardless of their sex, often accept (and adapt their views to) the masculinized institutional environment (Magnusdottir and Kronsell 2015; Kronsell 2013). Structural transformation in energy institutions is needed in order to reach the goals of innovation, sustainability and gender equality (Kronsell 2013). However, greater diversity in energy planning and policy-making would at a minimum lead to a wider perspective, better taking into account the diversity of social groups (e.g. children, the elderly and migrants) and their life situations. The misconception that energy policy and planning are gender-neutral leads to the perpetuation of gender inequalities and has the potential to render energy policy less effective in both developed and developing countries. “There is a serious risk that by failing to take into account underlying gender inequalities, the very policies that aim to address the problem may magnify existing inequalities” (Skinner 2011).


In addition to the leadership gap, the share of women in the workforce in the energy industry is generally low (Box 2.3.2). In the EU in 2010, 22% of employees in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply activities were women (EIGE 2012). As the industry is predominantly technical, women with professional training in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) are likely to look for work there. Gender equality is somewhat higher in employment in the renewable energy sector. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reported in 2016 that 35% of renewable energy sector jobs were held by women, compared to 20-25% in the wider energy sector, although it pointed out that this percentage was lower than women’s overall share in employment of 40-50% in most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and


Box 2.3.2: The Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative 86


In 2012 a coalition of nine countries launched the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative (C3E) to attract more young women to energy careers and enable greater gender diversity in clean energy professions. The member countries, which are part of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), are Australia, Denmark, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. To date, seven CEM governments have named a total of 46 C3E Ambassadors. In the first three years of the C3E programme in the United States, 20 mid-career women were recognized with C3E Awards for their accomplishments and leadership (CEM 2014).


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