Making the Commitment

Utilities will have a greater chance of increasing the numbers of women employees if senior management are committed to promoting gender equality more broadly and embedding workforce goals within a broader gender strategy. The resources in this section can help utilities understand the intersectionality of employment and gender, recognize how women’s employment fits within a broader gender equality framework, and develop senior leadership commitment to a gender strategy. Information is also included on change management, which should be part of any utility's gender/Development-Equity-Inclusion strategy in order to reduce resistance and increase buy-in of women’s employment and gender equality initiatives.

There are already several initiatives that focus on increasing gender equality in the energy sector, all of which have components focusing on increasing women’s employment. By joining one or more of these initiatives, senior management can demonstrate its commitment to gender equality in the workplace while obtaining access to resources and platforms to learn from the experiences of others.

Identifying Gender Gaps

In order to develop a coherent women’s employment program, utilities must collect baseline data on relevant company policies, practices, staffing, and attitudes. Collection of this quantitative and qualitative data is necessary in order to identify gender gaps, determine corrective actions, and set targets. The audit tools provided in this section can be utilized at regularly determined intervals to help institutionalize the collection of gender-disaggregated data and monitor company performance over time.

In addition to reviewing existing policies and staffing, baseline data collection should include analysis of corporate pay practices to uncover gendered pay inequities. Such analysis can be complex, but many private firms specialize in remuneration and can be enlisted to conduct the analysis. For utilities wishing to conduct the analysis themselves, the following calculators are free, but require users to have access to sex-disaggregated compensation and benefits data. Additional guidance on developing equitable pay processes can be found in Module 3.

After analyzing the baseline data and identifying gender gaps, companies can create gender action plans, in line with the goals and strategies they determined in Step 1. Resources in Modules 2-4 can help companies determine interventions to ameliorate identified gaps and thus help populate the action plan. The resources below provide guidance on the key components of an action plan.

Monitoring and Reporting Results

Setting targets and key performance indicators (KPIs) is critical to assessing progress toward meeting women’s employment objectives. These resources can help organizations determine appropriate indicators for their programs.

Benchmarking tools and certification of gender equality processes are increasingly available to utilities around the world, and provide additional frameworks through which companies can assess their performance and report their commitments to gender diversity and inclusion. While the companies below have developed gender certifications that may be awarded to organizations meeting their criteria for gender equality, it is important to note that the certifications are time-limited and fee-based.