IEA hosts industry dialogue to advance gender equality goals

Closing the gender gap in the energy sector – one of the least diverse sectors of the global economy – is the driver behind the “Equal by 30” campaign, which brings together private and public sector actors committed to equal pay, equal leadership and equal opportunities by 2030.

The campaign was launched last year at the 9th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in Copenhagen, under the banner of the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment, or C3E, Initiative. Nine countries (Canada, Italy, Sweden, Finland, UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France,) and 60 energy companies and organisations have already pledged their commitment to the Equal by 30 principles, and are acting to help increase women’s participation in the energy sector.

As part of its support to the campaign, the International Energy Agency hosted a one-day industry-dialogue meeting, allowing signatories to meet with policy makers and review opportunities for greater public-private collaboration. The event was an opportunity for energy companies to share their experiences on gender diversity and equality programmes, and discuss the availability and use of data to evaluate and track progress on women employment in the energy sector.

The meeting last week was opened by Paul Simons, the IEA’s Deputy Executive Director, and Isabelle Hudon, Canada’s Ambassador to France, who spoke about the high-level dialogues on gender equality that will take place at the 10th Clean Energy Ministerial, in Vancouver in May.

Misako Takahashi, Minister at the Permanent Delegation of Japan to the OECD, spoke about Japan’s efforts to promote gender equality at the G20 summit, which will be held under the presidency of Japan, in Osaka in June. Emma Letellier, National Gender Focal Point at the Ministry for Ecological and Inclusive Transition, delivered comments about France’s support for gender equality during its presidency of the G7 this year.

The 12 companies and seven countries that attended the meeting discussed a range of issues, including recruitment, retention, promotion and advancement, training, target or goal setting, professional development, mentoring, programme design and implementation, regional and subsector insights on gender equality.

The existing data on women’s employment in the energy sector validates the effectiveness of the Equal by 30 Campaign. Signatories have higher average rates of women’s participation in three indicators: total number of female employees, women in management, and women on boards of directors. The meeting also enabled signatory companies to share experiences on data collection and methods of assessment to analyse gender diversity as well as discuss how companies use this data to set targets, evaluate and track progress.

A key message that emerged from the meeting was the importance of making the energy sector an attractive source of employment for younger generations of workers of both genders. Participants from both the public and private sectors emphasized the need for greater collaboration among government, industry and academic institutions to accomplish this goal.

The IEA on Friday also published a paper on women’s employment in the rooftop solar sector in India. This will be followed by another paper on barriers and opportunities faced by women entrepreneurs in the solar energy sector.