IMPROVING ENERGY DATA TO ENHANCE GENDER EQUALITY

The report highlights a critical 'data deficit' in the energy sector, where the lack of sex-disaggregated data reinforces male-oriented policymaking and hinders the achievement of SDG7. It identifies systemic barriers to women's participation in the energy workforce—where they represent only 32% of the renewable energy sector—and the disproportionate impact of energy poverty on women and girls. The document provides a framework for designing gender indicators, emphasizing the need for both supply-side (employment/leadership) and demand-side (consumer preferences/household decision-making) metrics. It concludes with best practices for national policymakers, statistical offices, and international organizations to strengthen data capacity, particularly in low-income countries.

• Women are significantly underrepresented in the energy sector, comprising only 32 percent of the global renewable energy workforce.
• The energy sector exhibits a gender gap twice as large as that of the non-energy sector, with women particularly lacking in STEM and technical roles.
• Women face systemic barriers to entry and progression in the energy sector, including gender bias, lack of finance, and legal restrictions in countries such as Belize, Cameroon, Kiribati, and Nigeria that prevent them from working at night in electricity generation.
• There is a severe lack of gender-specific data for monitoring Sustainable Development Goals; as of June 2022, an average of only 42 percent of the data needed to monitor gender-specific dimensions of all SDGs was available globally.
• Climate and energy research is heavily skewed toward the global north; 90 percent of the 100 most cited climate research publications from 2016–2020 were affiliated with institutions in the global north, while less than 1 percent represented African institutions.
• The lack of sex-disaggregated data creates a cycle of 'male-orientation' in policymaking, where gender-neutral policies may actually exacerbate existing inequalities.
• Women's representation in high-level energy decision-making is very low, with only 11 percent of ministerial positions for energy, natural resources, and mining held by women across 190 countries as of January 2023.
• The report proposes a dual-approach to gender indicators, distinguishing between supply-side indicators (e.g., employment statistics and career progression) and demand-side indicators (e.g., consumer preferences and household financial decision-making).
• Funding for gender data saw a 50 percent drop in 2020, despite an overall increase in funding for gender equality, highlighting a disconnect in resource allocation.

APA

Idem, R., Strasser, A., & Abimbola, A. (n.d.). IMPROVING ENERGY DATA TO ENHANCE GENDER EQUALITY. Sustainable Energy for All. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2024-07/report-g%26y-genderdatastudy-002_compressed.pdf

Chicago

Idem, Rosemary, Ava Strasser, and Adenike Abimbola. IMPROVING ENERGY DATA TO ENHANCE GENDER EQUALITY. Sustainable Energy for All, n.d. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2024-07/report-g%26y-genderdatastudy-002_compressed.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Idem |first1=Rosemary |last2=Strasser |first2=Ava |last3=Abimbola |first3=Adenike |title=IMPROVING ENERGY DATA TO ENHANCE GENDER EQUALITY |publisher=Sustainable Energy for All |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2024-07/report-g%26y-genderdatastudy-002_compressed.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{idemndimproving, author = {Idem, Rosemary and Strasser, Ava and Abimbola, Adenike}, title = {{IMPROVING ENERGY DATA TO ENHANCE GENDER EQUALITY}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2024-07/report-g%26y-genderdatastudy-002_compressed.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }