
Energy and gender
A critical issue in energy sector employment and access to energy
Despite making up 39% of the global labour force women only account for 16% 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.
Meanwhile, the lack of access to energy or to clean cooking fuels particularly impacts women, limiting their work options, exposing them to health risks, and forcing them to forage for wood or other combustible materials.
At the IEA Ministerial 2019, Ministers from IEA countries endorsed Agency efforts to build up and share knowledge related to equal opportunities in the energy sector. Below, find out more about our programmes and initiatives, as well as IEA countries’ actions to support gender equality in the energy sector.
Understanding Gender Gaps in Wages, Employment and Career Trajectories in the Energy Sector
Since 2021, all IEA in-depth reviews of national energy policies have included a section on gender policies in the questionnaire sent to countries at the start of the review process. Since 2022, there have been dedicated text or chapters on gender diversity in country reviews for Canada, Poland, Hungary, and Italy (forthcoming) as well as in reports including the Africa Energy Outlook, World Energy Employment Report, CEM-EPI report on Skills Development and Inclusivity for Clean Energy Transitions, and Coal Net-Zero Emissions Report (forthcoming). The IEA in-depth reviews also strive to ensure a gender balanced composition of the peer review teams.
At the IEA Ministerial 2019, Ministers from IEA countries endorsed IEA efforts to build up and share knowledge related to equal opportunities for women and men in the energy sector.
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. This includes collecting disaggregated gender and energy data related to areas such as employment, management, innovation, and financing. This information allows us to track progress, release periodic updates to decision-makers, and develop policy recommendations for governments and industry.
The IEA Gender Advisory Council was set up by IEA’s Governing Board in June 2021. The Council comprises a number of senior officials from IEA member governments with the purpose of providing direction to the IEA Secretariat and facilitating and exchange of best practices between IEA Family governments on gender equality and inclusion.
The Equality in Energy Transitions Initiative (formerly known as C3E International) was created in 2010 as an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) to accelerate gender equality and diversity in clean in clean energy transitions. In 2017, a decision was taken to organize the Equality Initiative‘s activities as an IEA Technology Collaboration Programme (TCP). This provides a strong foundation to the work and provides additional visibility to the Equality Initiative‘ globally. As a TCP, the Equality Initiative joins a network of 6 000 experts participating in IEA’s energy technology network, which engages in energy research and development, and which can assist with the development of best practices to support the goals of the program.
The Equality Initiative (formerly known as C3E International) explained in videos
Explore further
A look at India’s transition to clean energy
Tracking and understanding the role of gender in the clean energy transition including the relationship between gender and energy consumption
Thank you for subscribing. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of any IEA newsletter.