| Lessons learned
Left: Maria van Veldhuizen, Project Manager at the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition
has suggested that women are more motivated by “having a job focused on helping others”; therefore such a negative image of the hydropower sector may be a greater deterrent to women than men.
The ESMAP study is based on research and analysis performed by the International Hydropower Association in collaboration with the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition. It draws upon extensive information gathering and analysis efforts, including 65 corporate and 900 individual survey responses, literature reviews, online surveys, interviews with stakeholders and case studies. Its results showed that at 25%, the share of women in hydropower is lower than in the renewable energy sector overall, where 32% of jobs are held by women. And of the women in hydropower companies, 21% are in technical positions such as engineers, environmental scientists, and field-based roles, with the remainder in nontechnical positions such administrative, commercial, sales, marketing, human resources, and finance. In a nutshell, there are almost four times as many women in nontechnical roles than there are in technical roles. “Nontechnical positions are key to the functioning of any company and are not intrinsically less important
than technical positions,” the report is keen to state. “However, women have already almost reached parity in these types of positions, so this report will focus on that large gender gap – 21% versus 79% – between technical and nontechnical positions. Furthermore, technical career paths are most likely to lead to senior management positions: this may be one explanation for the underrepresentation of women in mid-level and senior management positions.” The report goes on to discuss the sector’s “timid
efforts to advance gender equality” and women’s underrepresentation, especially in senior management and executive positions. Its research shows how men are more likely to identify barriers that fall at least partly under women’s own control, such as the fact that few women study STEM subjects, or women’s relative lack of awareness of or interest in the sector, while women were more likely to focus on barriers outside their control, such as bias and cultural norms holding them back. “This ‘bootstrap mentality’ of some men toward gender equality was visible throughout the survey and also in some comments received when the study was announced,” the report states. Some of these barriers result in fewer women entering the
Perceived barriers to women’s participation in the hydropower sector, by sex. (Source: World Bank data)
Selected by Women participants Selected by men participants Low proportion of women with relevant STEM skills Low proportion of women with relevant STEM skills
Lack of female role models in different types and levels of roles
Lack of awareness among women of opportunities in the hydropower sector
Bias by senior management in the hydropower sector in favour of employing men
Workplace environments that are unwelcoming to women
Lack of awareness among women of opportunities in the hydropower sector
Lack of interest among women in the possibility of working in the sector
Lack of female role models in different types and levels of roles
Workplace environments that are unwelcoming to women
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