Major renewable trade body pledges to increase female representation

RenewableUK, one of the UK’s leading trade associations, has marked International Women’s Day by committing to increase the number of women at its events.

The association, which represents wind and marine energy in the UK, released a statement this week “pledging to ensure that at least 30 percent of the speakers, panellists and chairs at events are women”.

To help achieve this the body has launched a crowd-sourced database of women working in the energy sector, called the Switch List. It is hoped this will make it easier for event organisers in the future to identify women experts to be represented at conferences.

RenewableUK has been motivated to act on the back of continued evidence that shows how women are severely underrepresented in the energy sector. For example, research by the campaign group POWERful Women shows that an astonishing 46 percent of the top 80 companies across the entire energy sector have all-male boards. Executive Board seats are occupied by only 7 percent of women.

RenewableUK’s Executive Director Emma Pinchbeck said: “We’re very proud to support the thousands of talented women working in the renewable energy industry and we believe they should have a platform at events. This is not just because there are brilliant women leaders in the energy sector today, but also because we want talented young people to be able to imagine themselves as leaders, on stages, and in the boardrooms of our exciting industries tomorrow. All-male panels neither represent the sector as it wants to be today, nor as it will be tomorrow. There is so much more to be done – but this is a start"

“Our new database, the Switch List, will highlight the vast pool of female talent which is driving change in renewable energy. We’re strongly encouraging women in energy and related industries to join the list, to raise their profile and inspire the next generation of energy professionals”, she added.

 

Photo Credit: Siemens