Fuelling the pipeline of female talent in the UK’s energy sector
13 Jun 2014 11:39 AM
Baroness Verma launches
POWERful Women - a new, professional initiative to showcase female leadership
potential in the UK’s energy sector.
The energy sector is tackling a wide range of important
challenges – from keeping the lights on to helping consumers reduce
energy waste and building a more sustainable low carbon future. Industry
competitiveness relies on a diverse pool of talent capable of bringing fresh
perspectives. Yet, recent research published by law firm Eversheds shows that
on average only 12.8 per cent of jobs in the energy sector are held by women
and 12.5 per cent of directors on energy company boards are female. PfW
believes that a much stronger female influence is needed at the top
table.
The group brings together
industry, academia and political representatives that span exploration, energy
generation and supply, energy efficiency, technology, government and consumer
issues. It will support and encourage energy companies to appoint more women to
senior roles as part of building stronger businesses – including through
matching industry leaders with professional women to help overcome challenges
and build opportunities for greater female leadership.
Baroness Verma, Energy and
Climate Change Minister, and Co-Founder of POWERful Women,
said:
“We need to transform the
way we generate and use energy, but we also need to transform the disparity of
representation of women in the industry, particularly at senior and
mid-management levels. POWERful Women will endeavor to make this important goal
become a reality – through bringing together industry, academic and
political leaders to showcase women in the energy sector and provide support
where it’s needed.”
Laura Sandys, Member of
Parliament for South Thanet, and Co-Founder of POWERful Women,
said:
“POWERful Women is a
fantastic initiative which champions and supports women into leadership roles
in the energy sector. By engaging with companies, drawing on expert guidance
and encouraging fundamental change in business models, this organisation really
is creating a new generation of Powerful Women.”
Nicky Morgan, Minister for Women
said:
“It’s great to see
the energy industry taking positive steps to promote female leadership. We know
that businesses get stronger by having women engaged at all levels. Everyone
will benefit from women bringing their expertise and a fresh perspective to
meeting the UK’s energy needs.”
Mark Elborne, President &
Chief Executive Officer of GE UK and Ireland, said:
“It’s very important
that we bring the broadest array of talented people into an industry that
clearly needs to be brought into the 21st Century. Bringing in really diverse,
well qualified, well educated, smart people to lead the energy sector will
bring the opportunity to change the way we’re doing the business
today.”
Francis Gugen, Founder and
Chairman, IGas Energy Plc and Chairman of Petroleum Geo-Services, ASA
said:
“The oil industry needs
talent. It involves complicated engineering, finance, social licence to
operate, in fact every type of complexity and so we need a rich mix of bright
and able people. Having more diversity around the table also just makes good
business sense – for example women are the major buyers of the industries
products – so I hope that POWERful women can help us run our businesses
even better.”
Juliet Davenport, Founder and
CEO of Good Energy, said:
“The energy sector faces
massive political and consumer challenges, at the same time as going through a
period of great structural change. We need a diverse set of ideas and views to
be able to fix the problems the sector has. Having more women in the sector
will help to ensure that we have a mix of views, can understand much more about
what customers want, and are able to deliver a new set of innovative solutions
to match those expectations.”
Dame Sue Ion,
said:
“The energy sector is
probably one of the most if not the most important sector for us in the 21st
Century. Making sure we have secure and sustainable supplies of energy is
absolutely paramount for us and we’re in the business of refreshing
pretty much the whole of the infrastructure. It’s a known fact that
having women in senior roles as part of balanced team delivers you better
results than if you have singular gender teams. So women in leadership roles,
where perhaps they have more empathy and are more willing to listen to ideas
right across the board before reaching decisions, I think will deliver better
results. There are definitely more women than there were say 10 – 15
years ago but it’s really important for the people that are now at the
top of the energy sector to have a weather eye on the talent coming through at
junior and certainly middle management areas.”
Gwen Parry-Jones, Safety and
Assurance Director, EDF Energy said:
“POWERful Women’s
aim of advancing the growth and leadership potential of women in the
electricity and energy sector is really important because within this sector we
need the best. If you think about the challenges that are facing us in the
energy area we need to attract the best people to deliver the best product for
the infrastructure of the UK. In my view women add an enormous amount to the
diversity of teams and diverse teams I have seen in action provide the best
outcomes for business. Women’s roles within the energy sector has never
been more critical.”
Angela Knight, CEO of Energy UK
said:
“Creating an organisation
for the purposes of assisting and promoting women in an industry which has
tended to be very masculine is an excellent proposal. I like the name too as
“POWERful Women” both says what it is about – the power
industry – and the upward direction we would like to see more women take.
For companies, bringing more women into the industry in the first place brings
a greater degree of diversity, thinking and ideas into that organisation and
often shifts the focus towards the customers. POWERful Women” is not
about seeking a takeover nor about wanting people to be promoted; for reasons
other than the individual’s ability. What POWERful Women is all about is
providing the network and support for women to make the most of their talents
and skills.”
For more information see
the powerful women
website
Notes:
- According to
Eversheds, on average only 12.8 per cent of jobs in the energy sector
are held by women and 12.5 per cent of directors on energy company boards are
female.
- According
to PWC, women occupy only 11% of seats on the board of directors of
oil & gas companies.