On the 19th of July, our two-hour EUWES workshop was held for one of the target groups, 21 high school students at Biberkor Montessori School in Germany. We explored how gender relates to the energy sector and what challenges and opportunities await us in the transition to clean energy systems.
The workshop’s aim was to raise awareness of career-related gender stereotypes and their consequences for young students who are still choosing a career. Thereby, they can break down gender-role perceptions and develop their own visions on the gender-just energy sector and energy system.
These aims are important because women and diverse genders are severely underrepresented in the energy sector and energy system. They are far less involved in decision-making both as energy generators and energy consumers. For instance, as energy generators, they underrepresent the management level. Additionally, they are disproportionately affected by energy poverty as energy consumers.
To introduce the students to the complexity of the topic and the basics of the energy transition, sustainable development as well as concepts of feminist theory, we started the workshop with a memory game with core terms and definitions. Then, the students discussed four main questions with a small groupwork, to test and share their previous knowledge which was supplemented with a followed input presentation by our trainer.
During the input presentation, plenty of examples were introduced to help their understanding of different aspects for the gender-energy nexus. For example, the concept of androcentrism, prevalent in the energy sector, was presented with an example of using solely the male-shaped dummy for safety tests. It led to a discussion on why its shape should be diversified by considering different people and their figures. Students learnt accordingly that the energy sector and system also must be transformed to have diverse views from androcentrism. The employment of WLINTA* in the energy sector and STEM degree programmes and the consequences of gender stereotypes were also discussed.
After our input, the students developed their own vision boards for a gender-equal energy future under the headings ‘My energy ecotopia’ and ‘Gender-equitable media, marketing and communication’. It was impressive for our EUWES Team how much they have enhanced their knowledge and interest they already had. We are grateful for their thoughts and the opportunity to exchange ideas with the young generation.
This was the third out of six workshops that we are organising for various stakeholders and beneficiaries in the energy sector to raise awareness of the links between energy and gender.
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