Promoting gender equity in the green workforce
In the urgent quest to address the looming threat of climate change, policy discourse has largely revolved around reducing carbon emissions and transitioning to renewable energy sources. At the heart of this transition lies the imperative to cultivate a skilled workforce capable of driving innovation and sustainability in green industries. However, despite the growing emphasis on green skills development, significant barriers persist, particularly concerning gender equity in the green workforce.
The prevailing approach to addressing the demand for green skills has been through the lens of ‘skills for green jobs’. This paradigm, championed by international development institutions, focuses on identifying and cultivating job-specific skills necessary for a green economy. While this approach has made strides in recognising the importance of technical expertise within sectors such as renewable energy and manufacturing, it often overlooks the broader systemic issues underpinning sustainability and fails to address social inequities.
Critics have rightly pointed out the narrowness of the job-centered approach, particularly in its exclusion of non-technical skills essential for success in the green economy. Beyond technical expertise, green jobs require a diverse set of core skills, including problem-solving, analytical thinking, environmental awareness, communication, and the ability to work in teams. Then there are transformative skills necessary for systems change, like systems thinking, partnership and coalition building, self-advocacy and the ability to advocate for others, and critical perspectives on resistance and power.
Neglecting this breadth of green skills not only limits the effectiveness of green workforce development but also perpetuates gender disparities with the conflation of green skills with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills, which exacerbates existing gender gaps in STEM education and employment. Women remain significantly underrepresented in STEM-related fields, resulting in limited access to opportunities in STEM-related green sectors currently receiving the lion’s share of investment.
To address these disparities, we must adopt a multifaceted approach that not only provides equitable access to green skills training but also challenges the societal norms and biases that perpetuate gender inequalities in the green economy.
To this end, policy interventions must prioritise gender-transformative approaches to green skills development. Education and training programmes must be redesigned to challenge gender stereotypes and biases and to dismantle structures of exclusion and systems of discrimination. This starts from promoting girls' participation in STEM education from an early age to providing targeted support, like mentorship and networking programmes, for women pursuing careers in green sectors. Conversely, it also means promoting the participation of men and boys in education and training pathways aligned with sectors conventionally dominated by women.
Policymakers must also reframe the definition of green jobs to encompass roles that contribute to climate adaptation and resilience and to the achievement of climate and environmental justice. Green jobs should not be limited to occupations that produce goods and services that benefit the environment, but should also include caregiving roles, community development, environmental advocacy, and other forms of work that are essential to restoring the health and wellbeing of communities – a cornerstone of a just transition. By anchoring the definition of green jobs in social empowerment as much as it is in environmental sustainability, we place economic value (and political attention) on the care work that has been rendered invisible in our present fossil-fuel-driven economy. Such care work is necessary to rectify generations of environmental harm and social exclusion while restoring social justice and the well-being of both people and planet.
Promoting gender equity in the green workforce requires collective action from governments, civil society, and the private sector. Policymakers must collaborate with stakeholders to develop comprehensive strategies that address the structural barriers and the root causes of gender disparities in education and training to promote a more diverse workforce. Policymakers must create an enabling environment that not only incentivises technical innovation for decarbonisation, but also incentivises workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion. Environmentally friendly practices must be considered equally important as gender-inclusive hiring practices. Similarly, environmental impact assessments must be considered equally important as conducting gender impact assessments. Together with civil society, policymakers must hold the private sector accountable to implementing gender-sensitive policies that support work-life balance, equal pay, and career advancement opportunities, just as it aims to do with carbon accounting and environmental reporting.
Ultimately, achieving gender equity in the green workforce is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity for achieving sustainable development. Women's participation and leadership in the green economy can drive innovation, enhance productivity, and foster inclusive growth. By prioritising gender-transformative policies, investing in women's empowerment, and placing economic value in care work and social justice, we can unlock the full potential of a green transition to a more sustainable future.
Reference
Adapted from Kwauk and Casey, A new green learning agenda: Approaches to quality education for climate action, Brookings, 2021.