Reflections on 2025: Gender Equality and Inclusion in the Energy Sector

The year 2025 marked a pivotal moment for assessing gender equality in the energy sector. It was a year that revealed both tangible progress and persistent structural barriers. While the clean energy transition offers a unique opportunity to challenge long-standing inequalities, it also risks reinforcing existing disparities if inclusion is not treated as a core principle rather than a secondary concern.

Global assessments underscored this tension. The UN Women Gender Snapshot 2025 reaffirmed that gender equality remains off track worldwide, with persistent gaps in economic opportunity, decision-making, workplace safety, and access to technology. These findings align with broader evidence from organisations such as the OECD and the World Bank, which continue to document uneven progress across labour markets, STEM participation, and access to resources. 

In the energy sector, these challenges intersect with the dynamics of the transition, highlighting the importance of justice, representation, and social inclusion. 2025 demonstrated tangible steps forward, but also reinforced the urgency of addressing systemic inequalities.

Visibility, Data, and the Push for Accountability

Gender equality gained greater visibility in global climate and energy discussions throughout 2025. At COP30, governments and institutions endorsed a strengthened commitment to gender-responsive climate and energy action, culminating in the adoption of a new Gender Action Plan (GAP). This nine-year framework aims to embed gender equality into climate policy, workforce development, and decision-making structures (EU at COP30). 

Moreover, international organisations intensified their focus on gender-disaggregated data and institutional accountability. The International Energy Agency (IEA) continued expanding its Gender and Energy work, calling gender equity a “human capital imperative” in its Energy Employment analyses.  

A landmark development this year was the release of the second edition of Renewable Energy: A Gender Perspective by IRENA. This report provides the most comprehensive global assessment of women’s participation in the renewable energy workforce to date. While women now account for 32% of full-time jobs in renewables (higher than in many traditional energy sectors), only 19% of senior management and board-level positions are held by women, highlighting a persistent leadership gap.

At the corporate level, EU sustainable finance and corporate sustainability reporting frameworks, particularly the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), have encouraged organisations to integrate gender-related metrics into workforce composition and corporate governance reporting.

Together, these developments contributed to a clearer message: gender equality is not simply a matter of representation, but it is fundamental to building resilient, trustworthy, and socially legitimate energy systems. 

Leadership, Workforce Transformation and Persistent Inequalities 

Despite increasing visibility, 2025 confirmed that structural inequalities persist, particularly in leadership and workforce representation. The Springer volume Engendering the Energy Systems (Clay, 2025), demonstrates that access to energy, participation in decision-making, and roles in energy work remain shaped by gendered power dynamics at household and institutional levels. 

While a growing number of organisations have adopted mentorship initiatives, gender-balanced shortlists, and enhanced hiring commitments, progress remains uneven and slow. Research from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) highlights systemic barriers, including unequal access to professional networks, constraints linked to unpaid care responsibilities, and lower visibility in high-level negotiation settings.
For many women, especially those facing intersecting forms of discrimination, the pathway to senior technical or decision-making roles remains fragile, confirming the need for structural reforms and sustained institutional support. 

Community-Led Change, Energy Access, and Intersectional Inclusion 

2025 also reaffirmed the crucial role of community-led initiatives and grassroots networks in advancing gender-just energy transitions. Evidence from Clay (2025) shows that women’s leadership in community energy initiatives, from rural electrification cooperatives to citizen-driven solar projects, strengthens governance, fosters social acceptance, and supports long-term sustainability. 

This aligns with IRENA’s report on gender and energy access, which highlights women’s participation in off-grid and mini-grid projects across Africa and Asia. These community experiences emphasise that energy transitions are social transformations as much as technological or economic shifts, where justice, access, and representation are core. 

What 2025 Taught Us and What We Still Must Do 

Progress is possible when gender equality is treated as a structural pillar of the energy transition. Academic evidence, including analyses of the gendered nature of energy systems, combined with strengthened international commitments, show that momentum exists but remains fragile. Gaps persist across hiring, leadership pipelines, data collection, and workplace culture. 

Looking ahead to 2026, advancing gender equality in the energy sector will require concrete and systemic action, including:

• Comprehensive gender-disaggregated data collection 

• Gender-responsive budgeting in energy planning 

• Equal access to training, skills development, and mobility opportunities 

• Embedding safety, dignity, and anti-harassment standards across organisations 

• Elevating the voices of women from diverse backgrounds, particularly those underrepresented in technical, regulatory, and decision-making roles 

These measures are not optional add-ons. They are foundational to designing energy systems that are trusted, resilient, and socially legitimate.

Lights on Women: Our 2025 Achievements and 2026 Commitments 

Against this backdrop, 2025 has been an exceptional year for the Lights on Women initiative. In May, we celebrated the two winners of the third edition of the LUCE Awards, and had the honour of hosting the 7th meeting of the DG ENER Equality platform (and later attended the 8th one in Brussels this November). With the generous support of our donors, we awarded 10 scholarships to FSR community courses. Our talent matchmaking platform, Energybase, continued to grow and now connects more than 600 professionals. 

We delivered a training module on The Gender Dimension of Sustainability Strategies in the Energy Sector, which brought together 60 participants from Central Asia. In addition, we delivered a session titled Leadership Models and Mentorship, organised within the African Women in Energy Regulation Leadership Program (AWER-LP) by the African School of Regulation (ASR). We established a partnership with the European Youth Energy Network (EYEN) and became IEA’s first gender partner. 

In 2026, we aim to broaden our calendar of initiatives and continue to advance gender equality in energy, climate, and sustainability sectors. Our goal is clear: to shine a light on the women shaping the future of energy and ensure the transition ahead is equitable, representative, and inclusive for all.