Commentary
Gender diversity in energy: what we know and what we don’t know
Energy and gender
A critical issue in energy sector employment and energy access
The energy sector remains one of the least gender diverse sectors and closing this gender gap will be vital as women are key drivers of innovative and inclusive solutions. A clean energy transition will require innovative solutions and business models to be adopted and greater participation from a diverse talent pool.
Key findings
Percentage of female inventors in the energy (and control) technologies, 1978-2016
OpenWomen are listed in less than 11% of patent applications related to the energy sector
Female inventors are rising across different technological sectors, with the highest rates reported in the health and chemistry sectors. In the patent classes closely associated to the energy sector – combustion apparatus, engines, pumps and power – women are listed in less than 11% of applications, and over 15% for climate change mitigation technologies, which is comparable to all technologies, including information and communication technologies.
Commentary: Gender diversity in energy, what we know and what we don’t know
Technology report
Seven Women Entrepreneurs of Solar Energy
Commentary
Addressing the diversity challenge in energy sector recruitment
Technology report
Women working in the rooftop solar sector
A look at India’s transition to clean energy
Article
Tracking gender and the clean energy transition
Tracking and understanding the role of gender in the clean energy transition including the relationship between gender and energy consumption
Commentary
Gender diversity in energy sector is critical to clean energy transition
Our work on energy and gender
Despite making up 48% of global labour force – women only account for 22% of the traditional energy sector. For management levels the numbers are even lower. The barriers women face in the energy sector are similar to those they face elsewhere in the economy. However, the challenges of the energy sector are more pressing since the sector is going through a process of transformation; clean energy transitions will require innovative solutions and business models to be adopted and greater participation from a diverse talent pool.
At the IEA Ministerial meeting in December 2019, IEA Ministers adopted a communique that specifically endorsed increased IEA efforts to build up and share knowledge to help tackle issues related to future human capacity needs, including equal opportunities for women and men in the energy sector. The IEA is now developing a strategy to deliver on this Ministerial mandate.
The aim of the initiative is to elevate the IEA’s work on collecting knowledge and data related to gender, to develop policy recommendations to assist governments in their ambitions to improve gender-diversity in the energy sector. That includes collecting disaggregated gender and energy data related to areas such as employment, management, innovation, and financing to track progress and release periodic updates to decision-makers and developing policy recommendations for governments and industry.
The Clean Energy, Education and Empowerment (C3E) Programme was created in 2010 as an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) to enhance international collaboration and promote the leadership and participation of women in the clean energy transformation. In 2017, a decision was taken to organise the C3E’s activities as an IEA Technology Collaboration Programme (TCP). This provides a strong foundation to the work and provides additional visibility to the C3E TCP’s work globally. As a TCP, C3E joins a network of 6 000 experts participating in the Energy Technology Network (ETN), which engages in energy research and development, and can assist with the development of best practice sharing to support the goals of C3E. The 38 TCPs operating today involve nearly 300 public and private organisations in 53 countries.