The energy industry across all of its sectors is celebrating today the International Women’s Day. But in a way that highlights women participation in an industry largely led by white males, both historically and practically. On social media, the #ChooseToChallenge has emerged as a way of highlighting this issue.
Firstly, from wind, to solar, to oil and gas, companies today, on International Women’s Day are remarking the importance of women in the workplace, in executive positions and overall, in the historical and economical scopes of the industry.
Secondly, through inclusion and diversity commitments, the energy industry is actively trying to transform itself into a more flexible, modern and just economic force; one that strengthens the desire to work in equal opportunities for all.
For example, LM Wind Power through an interview with women executives, remarked the importance of developing a flexible workplace. “One of the key questions that I am frequently asked by women in business is how to strike a balance between work and also life. During 2020 that question became even more pronounced,” said Ksenia Valtycheva, CFE of LM Wind Power.
“This coincided with unprecedented challenges at home – juggling work from home, children remote learning, caring for family members.” Consequently is critical for companies to establish more flexible schemes of work for women; to establish, for example, Parental Leave permits.
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International Women’s Day pushes companies to establish gender diversity goals
On the other hand, Engie North America has committed to a goal of having women fill 50 percent of management roles across the Group by 2050. It is also advancing in commitments regarding racial justice. Engie is also tackling this issue by creating new Employee Resource groups; groups who identify the need to connect as an affinity and advance specific goals.
Moreover, Vestas, on this International Women’s Day, established a Diversity and inclusion strategy that has the ambition of 25% women in leadership positions by 2025 and 30% by 2030.
“To achieve this, we are working on a number of initiatives to increase focus on gender diversity across Vestas; from our recruitment process to also, internal education and our involvement in external networks; focused on improving opportunities for women in renewables.” Sara Barron; SVP, Global Talent Management, People & Culture of Vestas wrote in a statement.
Finally, Acciona has also stablished a program specially aimed for women in energy, the Homeward Bound. This program also capacitates professional women from the scientific and technological communities to captain the response to the climate crisis.
Since 2016, when it started, it has created a network of more than 1000 women; armed to lead policy making and research to tackle both climate change and gender inequality.
