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Women Are Key to Achieving Energy Transition
For a myriad reasons, women are disproportionately affected by climate change. They are more likely than men to be poor, and therefore to depend on natural resources, according to the United Nations. As climate change alters weather patterns and exacerbates extreme weather events, women and their children are more likely to go hungry. At the same time, gender discrimination means that women are too often excluded from leadership positions and decision-making processes.
The Biden-Harris administration last year recognized that conditions are right to address two difficult issues at the same time. “The U.S. Government, as a whole, is integrating gender equality across all of our policy priorities,” said Geoffrey Pyatt, Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources at the recently held COP29.
“Our commitments to jointly address gender equality and the climate process is reflected in United States first-ever strategy to respond to the effects of climate change on women.”
“Women in Energy is a priority across the U.S. government,” said Assistant Secretary Pyatt. So the U.S. government invests in S.T.E.M. education training globally, for women and girls.
As well, the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources, or ENR, “launched several professional development programs for women who are already working in the energy sector.”
“The gender gap has a real economic cost. The energy sector has one of the largest examples of that gap. Only 16 percent of traditional energy sector employees are women. And it’s about 32 percent in the clean energy sector.”
The World Bank and the IMF both note that closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship could boost global Gross Domestic Product by over 20 percent. So, the ENR sponsors several programs to support women in the energy sector, said Mr. Pyatt.
“In partnership with the U.S. Gender Equity and Equality action fund, ENR has contributed over 4.25 million dollars to support the leadership, participation, and success of women in the energy sector, currently through programs in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, in Kenya and South Africa.”
“Through technical workshops, executive coaching, leadership skills training, and job shadows, these programs are changing lives. They improve the retention and promotion of women in energy. Which makes for a more effective and more sustainable energy transition,” said Assistant Secretary Pyatt.
“I am extremely proud of all of my colleagues in the ENR Bureau who’ve helped to prioritize gender in all of our work.”