A report released, yesterday, by Shortlist and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) has indicated that women have remained severely under-represented across levels of management in clean energy companies in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The report titled: “Empowering Women in Clean Energy: Advancing and Retaining an Equitable Workforce,” announced new findings that can help in the advancement and retention of women in the African clean energy sector. It also highlighted new data on the experiences of women in the clean energy sector in Africa.

The data, collated from over 150 professionals across sub-Saharan Africa, provided insights on the causes of gender inequity in the traditionally male-dominated industry.

The report also features the sector’s first pay equity analysis, revealing the positive but unequal impact of job training and placement programmes on salaries in the industry.

Presenting the report to the media, Director of Shortlist Futures, and author of the report, Ciara Remerscheid, said the report builds on the September 2023 publication, “Bottlenecks and Breakthroughs: Advancing Gender Equity in African Clean Energy,” which investigated the talent pipeline and recruitment barriers for women entering clean energy jobs.

According to her, previous research showed that women hold only a quarter of leadership and manager roles at renewable energy companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Empowering women in clean energy” synthesizes insights from women in the field and presents recommendations for better outcomes, including structured training, mentorship and coaching programmes, transparent pathways to promotion, flexible maternity leave policies and access to female role models.

“As investments in climate and clean energy grow in Africa, we need to pay serious attention to female labour force participation in green jobs.
“This report provides a blueprint for clean energy companies to harness the talent of women throughout their organisations,” Remerscheid said.

The reports were funded by GEAPP as part of the “Women for Green Jobs” (W4GJ) programme implemented by Shortlist with support from Value for Women.
Speaking also, Director of Demand Jobs and Livelihoods at GEAPP, Makena Ireri said the aim of W4GJ is to help more women access and succeed in clean energy careers in Africa, specifically targeting job placements, career support and employer-level interventions across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

According to her, this programme works with over forty clean energy companies, including Husk Power, Nuru, Sistema.bio and Sun King, to support their growth by addressing equitable hiring challenges.

“Women experience the greatest repercussions of climate change, which amplifies existing gender inequalities. A powerful transformation is underway in the African clean energy sector, as companies are making explicit efforts to hire and retain women at every level.

“As we work to further an equitable green energy transition, we see an unprecedented opportunity to drive greater job and economic opportunities for women, youth and low-income communities.

“Empowering Women in Clean Energy: Advancing and Retaining an Equitable Workforce” features a gender pay equity analysis of clean energy professionals that have been placed in the W4GJ programme over the past five years.

“The analysis finds that third-party training and placement programmes such as W4GJ play a crucial role in boosting compensation parity between male and female employees.

“While the W4GJ programme increased incomes for female candidates in absolute terms, we found that when compared to male peers in the sectors, hourly earnings for men accelerated at a faster pace than women, particularly after the programme intervention,” she added.

On his part, Country Delivery Lead for N GEAPP, Nigeria, Mr Muhammad Wakil, noted that renewable energy sector is growing exponentially in Africa and provides many job opportunities for women and men in the industry. He, however, said women lag behind in leadership and technical jobs in the renewable energy sector.

“Women hold just 22 per cent of jobs in energy production and distribution, according to the International Energy Agency, even though they make up 48 per cent of the global workforce.

“The number is even lower among senior managers: just 14 per cent. GEAPP firmly believes that the provision of renewable energy must foster gender equity for the transition to yield full economic gains,” he added.