Closing the Green Gender Gap: The Crucial Role of Women in Sustainable Development
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Despite leaps and bounds for women in the workplace in Western nations, gender disparities still persist across sectors. A recent Pew Research Center study revealed that the U.S. gender pay gap has barely moved over the past few decades.
Overwhelmingly, women still struggle to balance taking on the majority of childcare and household planning with their careers — something that was made even more apparent by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beyond the gender pay gap, men outnumber women in the workforce, notably in corporate leadership positions. Unfortunately, even in 2024, this is true across sectors, including ones where women may benefit the most, such as industries that utilize “green skills.”
Gender Disparity in Green Industries: A Widening Gap
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization defines green skills as “the knowledge, abilities, values, and attitudes needed to live in, develop, and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society.” This encompasses a wide spectrum of jobs, including clean energy, agriculture, construction, utilities, operations, and more. These sectors will only continue to evolve in tandem with environmental guidelines, creating new occupations and a demand for employees trained in green skills.
A recent report from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, which leverages data from the social media platform’s global membership base of 1 billion, sheds light on the start disparity of green skills between men and women. This green skills gender gap has grown 25% over the past seven years, from 4.9% in 2016 to 6.1% today.
Meanwhile, the World Benchmarking Alliance underscores the sluggish progress in gender equality among influential corporations. But, there’s some positive news: the World Bank's proposed Gender Strategy 2024-2030 signals an intent to address these disparities, aiming for a sustainable, inclusive future for girls and women.
An Education Gap in Green Job Skills
LinkedIn's "Green Gender Gap" report reveals a significant disparity in green skills employment, illustrating a concerning trend. A mere 10% of women possess green skills compared to 16% of men. The widening gap, growing by 25% over seven years, raises questions about equitable access to green job opportunities.
Despite women's accelerated entry into the green talent pool, outpacing men's growth rates since 2001, the findings show that they must upskill at 2.5 times the current rate to bridge the persisting gender gap. This highlights the pressing need for targeted initiatives to cultivate green skills among women and ensure their equitable representation in the growing green economy.
Corporate Gender Equality: Progress and Persistent Challenges
Unfortunately, women are still severely underrepresented in leadership roles across industries. The World Benchmarking Alliance's 2023 Gender Insights Report, which assessed more than 1,000 companies from 83 countries in 10 sectors, unveils slow progress in achieving gender parity in global corporations.
Leadership representation remains skewed. Women occupy merely 21% of C-suite roles. Factors contributing to the gender pay gap, such as promotion rates and job flexibility, persist, resulting in women earning 17% less on average than their male counterparts. Moreover, parental leave policies are lacking around the world, with only a fraction of companies saying they implement comprehensive leave policies.
Workforce underrepresentation is especially severe in renewable energy, where women comprise only 34% of employees, revealing the need for robust initiatives to address sector-specific disparities.
The Importance of Girls’ Education
It’s not enough to be just aware of the representation issues across green sectors — there also needs to be a solution. The World Bank, which provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world, seeks to accelerate gender equality through its proposed Gender Strategy 2024-2030.
Education is a big part of the plan. “Girls are the future for every country. We see that often girls receive education but they are not able to use their skills,” said Hana Brixi, Global Director for Gender at the World Bank. “So, it’s important to prioritize that they receive skills they can use for jobs and also they can transition to jobs.”
A 2017 World Bank report found that on average, women with a secondary education are more likely to work. In addition, they earn almost twice as much as those with no education. However, less than two-thirds of girls in low-income countries complete primary school, and only one in three girls complete lower secondary school.
But, there’s more: limited educational opportunities for girls cost countries between $15 trillion and $30 trillion.
“When 130 million girls are unable to become engineers or journalists or CEOs because education is out of their reach, our world misses out on trillions of dollars that could strengthen the global economy, public health, and stability," said Malala Yousafzai, girls education activist and Nobel laureate.
Women with access to education are less likely to experience intimate partner violence, report higher levels of mental well-being, have healthier children who are also less malnourished and more likely to receive an education. And, it nearly eliminates child marriage.
A growing body of research reveals that the increasingly frequent climate crises will disproportionately impact women, girls, marginalized groups, and developing countries. Emphasizing innovation, financing, and collective action, the World Bank’s strategy aims to combat gender-based violence, bolster human capital, expand economic opportunities, and empower women as leaders.
Conclusion
The urgency to address the green gender gap in education and jobs cannot be overstated. The current landscape underscores a critical issue: women are significantly underrepresented in green sectors, a disparity that not only hampers their economic and professional advancement but also impedes global progress toward sustainable development. This gap, growing at an alarming rate of 25% over seven years, highlights a systemic issue that extends beyond mere workplace representation to the very core of educational opportunities and societal norms.
Empowering girls with education, particularly in green skills, is not just a moral imperative but an economic one. The staggering loss of $15 to $30 trillion due to limited educational opportunities for girls is a wake-up call. It’s not just about filling jobs; it’s about harnessing untapped potential that can drive innovation and resilience in the face of climate crises, which disproportionately affect women and girls.
Moreover, the corporate world's sluggish progress in gender equality, especially in leadership roles, needs addressing with more vigor. The persisting pay gap, underrepresentation in C-suite roles, and inadequate parental leave policies are symptomatic of deep-rooted biases that need to be dismantled. Corporations play a crucial role in shaping societal norms, and their actions can either perpetuate disparities or catalyze change.
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