Gender inequality in energy transition
Cara Daggett is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on feminist political ecology, with a particular interest in fossil fuels. In 2018, she coined the term “petro-masculinity,” which she argues helps to better understand how the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels such as oil are emblematic of Western conservative society and hegemonic masculinity.
In 2019, she published the book The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work (Duke University Press), which traces the genealogy of fossil fuels, closely linked to Western capitalist domination, the emergence of industrial labor, and colonial expansion. But without going more further on a thesis like this, gender inequalities are still clearly persistent in the energy field, and the green energy field.
A 2023 OECD report (1) has shown that men vastly outnumber women in green jobs. In numbers, for every 10 employees in green jobs, less than 3 are women.
Women have to face several challenges in this field :
- Discrimination and stereotypes : women often have to face stereotypes that can limit their career advancement and opportunities
- Lack of Representation : women are underrepresented in leadership positions within environmental organizations and government agencies. This lack of representation can perpetuate gender bias and limit opportunities.
- Access to Education and Training : women may face barriers to accessing the education and training needed to succeed in the green transition field.
Reem Al Salem, United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, at the EIGE’s Gender Equality Forum which took place in 2022, spoke to a reality where climate crisis is exacerbating the risk of violence against women and girls : “We are living a triple mega crisis: conflict, climate change and violence against women and girls. Each of them of epic proportion. Each of them is preventable. But each of them is lacking the political will to do so. Every crisis has a gendered impact. We see that the rights and freedoms of women and girls are the first to be at risk. The long standing and pre-existing discriminations at play are magnified”(2). The work for a better gender equality in the energy field should clearly be an essential objective for politics.
For further information :
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/job-creation-and-local-economic-development-2023_21db61c1-en.html
https://eige.europa.eu/newsroom/news/3stepsforward-why-green-deal-needs-gender-perspective
