Give women green jobs to accelerate the journey to net-zero
International Women’s Day is a day we remember the immeasurable role women play in society. Sadly, this year, it comes at a time when the world is having to wade through even more unsettling and unchartered waters, while keeping our focus on working towards a more peaceful and sustainable future.
The climate agenda is redefining the world of business and it’s important for us to understand the role women can play in this challenge. ACCA is calling for women’s voices to be heard in a space where men dominate. This directly relates to two of the UN Sustainable Development Goals – SDG 5 on gender equality and SDG 13 on climate change. We need both women and men piloting this long road to net-zero.
Alok Sharma, the COP26 president, said at the Glasgow summit last year ‘gender and climate are profoundly intertwined. The impact of climate change affects women and girls disproportionately.’ According to the UN Environment Programme, 80% of people displaced by climate change are women. Also, women are 14 times more likely to die during environmental disasters. At the same time, the UK government announced its net-zero strategy, which said the transition to net-zero would create over 400,000 green jobs. And unfortunately, there was no mention of women in this strategy.
To celebrate International Women’s Day this year, ACCA held a webinar – The climate crisis isn’t gender-neutral: why women’s voices need to be heard – where women were at the forefront of the conversation. It was a timely opportunity to raise the awareness of women’s role in fighting the climate crisis. We also got to hear about the immense risks we face unless we increase the availability of green jobs to women. If we don’t do this the destination to net-zero will be further away and the gender inequality gap will widen.
What is a green job?
A green job is a role contributing to the preservation and restoration of the environment. So it could be from the traditional industries such as construction or manufacturing, or from a new emerging green sector, like renewable energy.
Around the world, women make up the majority of the workforce in sectors like agriculture, which means they would disproportionately be affected by extreme weather conditions.
The transition to net-zero would be a major driver of change for the labour market over the next few decades and businesses and government must work together to address that. The industries benefitting the most from the transition are the utilities sector, construction and manufacturing. The issue is these sectors have a very low percentage of women making up the workforce.
Tackling gender bias in this space is a two-pronged approach. For industries where men overwhelming make up the workforce, government and businesses need to work together to ensure the gap doesn’t widen in terms of the ratio of men and women working.
Equally, in sectors where women are overrepresented, we need to look at what issues they face and address them. In agriculture in Africa, women grow 70 percent of the food, but they face huge barriers in terms of having access to information and technology.
How do we ensure equal access to green jobs?
It’s all about awareness and education. The less opportunities there are for women to get involved in green jobs, the more it will slow down the entire race to net-zero. We need to build awareness on this issue among both women and men. What is promising is that there are more women taking up strategic leadership roles. It’s important for us to stick together and introduce others to these green opportunities.
How can we all play a part in closing the climate gender gap?
Focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion is key when it comes to sustainability. Policies must be put in place to ensure women and other underrepresented groups have access to opportunities at all levels.
I really hope the conversations we had at ACCA this week have sparked further debate on why women – who have had a special relationship with nature from time immemorial – must help to drive the climate agenda alongside men. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at COP26 said it perfectly – let us ‘build back better with women’. So, I say give women green jobs. The time is now.