Participation of women in economic sectors, focusing on the energy sector

Gender participation has recently started to feature within the domain of energy, becoming a pivotal point of concern among corporate sector policymakers, international institutions, and academic researchers (Osunmuyiwa & Ahlborg, 2019; Ryan, 2014). Academic discussions around the confluence of gender, climate change, and energy have typically occurred in two relatively disjoint bodies of literature. The first has focused on developing nations, attempting to characterize the inequalities in energy access and climate change impacts on the lives of rural women. The narratives around the “poverty of women” and the “low quality of energy access and its adverse impact on health and safety” have predominantly taken the focus. This body of literature has largely ignored broader topics such as equal participation in energy sector decision-making, or climate change policy development. Baruah (2017) and Listo (2018) claim that women’s access to new employment is often constrained by legal and social barriers in developing countries. These barriers may limit their education, property rights, land ownership, and access to credit. According to these authors, public policies must address these issues to develop economic opportunities for women (Baruah, 2016; Listo, 2018). The second body of literature, which primarily focused on the developed world, revolves around analysing the role of women in the energy sector, largely focussing on the gender divide in perceptions of climate change (McCright, 2010) and differences in energy sector careers (Pearl-Martinez & Stephens, 2016).

Sustainable Development Goals:

Gender Equality

Affordable and Clean Energy