November 25, 2024
Women’s Role in Ukraine’s Recovered Energy Sector
Ukrainian women can play a key role in the successful green recovery of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but there’s room for improving access to work in the traditionally male-dominated sector and foremost breaking the glass ceiling.
The energy sector began employing more women due to a shortage of qualified personnel, a trend that significantly intensified following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. But women can play an even greater and more important role in the renewed energy sector of Ukraine, which must be sustainable and green. To obtain this, there has to be systematic change on multiple levels to raise the number of women employed and promoted in energy. RECONOMY, an inclusive and green economic development program of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), aims to create economic opportunities for Ukrainian women. RECONOMY is implemented by the Swiss international development organization, Helvetas.
The program aims to “encourage women to consider a career in the energy efficiency sector, show more role models who are already working in the sector and gradually change the mindset of people,” says Nataliia Koshovska, Gender and Social Inclusion Manager in RECONOMY.
Recovery includes sustainable energy
As a result of Russian missiles and drone attacks, Ukraine’s power generation is destroyed by half. Ukraine finds itself in an energy crisis as Russia managed to destroy 80% of thermal and 33% of hydrogenation this year. As a result, Ukrainians in cities and villages have been living with renewed rolling blackouts since mid-May after a year of stabilasation.
The urgent repair of destroyed power plants and substations to restore power generation before the onset of the cold season has become the major objective for the Ukrainian state. But Ukraine faces a long-term task — the restoration of its energy infrastructure in the future.
The reconstruction of Ukraine serves as an opportunity to build a new, sustainable, inclusive and green energy system leading with decentralized generation and complete decarbonization.
According to Greenpeace’s study titled “Solar Energy Marshall Plan for Ukraine”, “it would be feasible and beneficial if Ukraine installs five times more solar energy capacity in the next three years than outlined in the Ukrainian government’s current ‘Ukraine Plan.’”
But the need for immediate recovery faces Ukraine with another problem — a deficit in the workforce.
Break the barrier and glass ceiling
The war accelerated the employment of women in Ukraine’s energy sector, and there is a need in addressing a shortage of qualified personnel.
A large part of male workforce got mobilized to the army, leading to creating a gap in labor demand and available personnel. For instance, slightly less than 10% of all employees of the DTEK holding, the largest Ukrainian private investor in the energy industry, serve in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Many jobs in the energy sector have become vacant due to workplace destruction, the relocation of enterprises, and the evacuation of specialists out of the country.
In the third year of the war, the amount of vacancies in the job market exceeds the demand. In the energy sector, according to statistics from the state employment sector, in May, there were over 4,000 vacancies, and people looking for a job numbered dozens of times less.
“As of today, of course, interest has become greater for women to occupy various positions in the energy industry, but, unfortunately, these are not top management positions,” Valentyna Beliakova, President of the Women’s Energy Club of Ukraine, voluntary, independent professional association of women working in the field of energy in Ukraine, addresses the existence of the glass ceiling for women.
In the last few years of independence, Ukraine has introduced legislative changes toward eliminating gender discrimination in the field of work: removed the list of prohibited professions for women, adopted the national strategy to overcome the pay gap, is addressing harrasment and combating gender based violence. Additionally, with the onset of the full-scale invasion, a law deregulating labor relations during martial law lifted the ban on certain types of work for women. As a result, women are temporarily allowed to work in more challenging and hazardous conditions, including underground.
Nevertheless, women are now mostly recruited among machinists of different types, engineering and technical positions, as section foreman for instance, etc, although irronicaly these titles themselves illustrate gender steriotapes deeply imbeded in the eneergy secore.
Koshovska underlines the necesity to introsuce gender neutral job titles like Site Manager, Lead Coordinator, Construction Supervisor and inclusive hiring practices.
Because as we can see in reality the majority of private companies are headed by men. There are very few women in top management positions. For example, there is no woman on the board of Ukrenergo or Energoatom. Though we observe a good practice initiated by Ukrhydroenergo that has a woman on the board and a dedicated gender and social inclusion focal point to promote the change. For instance, the pay gap results in the difference in wages for women and men in the same position which is 18.6%. All these problems are reinforced by the gender stereotypes rooted in the Ukrainian energy sector derived from the education sector.
To change this inequality in the future, Beliakova believes that quotas at the state level need to be introduced:
“There are many women who are already involved in renewable energy, but many women still need to be involved, especially women in the regions. In Ukraine, the budget is divided regionally, and it is necessary, first of all, to focus on making the budgets gender-oriented. Secondly, in the regions there has to be 50% share of women who would take part in decisions on budgets, on attracting investors, on various projects and their creation.”
Women’s Economic Empowerment
To create more economic opportunities for women, to break the barrier, and to dismantle rigid types of intrinsic gender norms in Ukraine’s energy sector, systematic and multilevel approaches need to be taken.
To attract more Ukrainian women to the energy sector, there needs to be more steretotypes-free training and courses available, and educational opportunities created that will allow for job insertion afterwards. Ukrainian women need mentoring and coaching support, while state and private companies need to introduce gender-sensitive and unbiased recruiting. This is exactly what RECONOMY aims at.
“The primary objective of the program is to create green and decent job opportunities and improve incomes for women and youth in the Eastern Partnership countries, with a particular focus on disadvantaged groups,” states Raisa Tofan, Program Officer for the Eastern Partnership at RECONOMY. “In Ukraine, the economic advancement of women into higher positions is crucial for addressing the significant workforce gap in the sustainable energy sector and fostering systemic change in this yet gender-stereotyped field. Empowering women as leaders in the green energy transition through RECONOMY will enhance their participation in decision-making and advocacy processes, ultimately promoting a more sustainable and inclusive green reconstruction for Ukraine.”
The program targets young individuals, those beginning to explore career opportunities in the sector, and particularly internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have relocated within the country and are ready to consider new career paths. It also aims to address the demands of Ukraine’s recovery, such as energy managers, one of the biggest shortages in terms of skills in the future for Ukraine.
The process of reconstruction will require extensive expertise in energy management, as Ukraine, along with Moldova and Georgia, is aligning its secondary legislation with the Energy Community requirements and EU standards as part of the EU accession process,” says Tofan.
Managers will be needed to connect Ukraine’s electrical systems to other countries, to diversify, to enhance renewable energy also for the country’s further economic development.
While difficult times can serve as a catalyst for positive change, reforms in the energy sector need to be systematic and enduring.
“I really hope that this trend of having more women involved in the energy industry will remain even after the war,” says Beliakova. “But not because someone needs [women in workplaces], but to have equal opportunities for everyone, and for women to have the opportunity to work in absolutely all positions.”
Authors
Kateryna Farbar
Kateryna Farbar is a Ukrainian journalist with nine years experience covering socioeconomic issues, worker's rights, migration and Russia's full-scale invasion for Ukrainian and international media.
Related Content
November 25, 2024
November 12, 2024
Related Content
November 25, 2024
November 12, 2024
Comments (0)