Integrating women into the energy and transportation sectors and incorporating feedback from marginalized communities into planning processes can help advance the clean energy transition, which is critical for climate mitigation.
Women are underrepresented in the energy sector and transportation planning. Although they constitute half of the global workforce potential in energy, fewer women than men are found in fields like planning, policymaking, business, engineering, research, and management. In transportation, women are also underrepresented in roles such as driving, construction, engineering, management, and project leadership. A survey across 36 countries revealed that only 17 percent of transport sector employees are women. A significant reason for this underrepresentation is the lack of gender considerations in energy and transportation policies. Typically, energy sector work assumes benefits will flow equally to men and women, while transportation often adopts a “one-size-fits-all” approach, resulting in widespread inequities in safety, access, affordability, and reliability.
Conversely, tailored approaches that incorporate the priorities and needs of women and other affected stakeholders yield significant benefits for society at large. When women are incorporated into transportation planning, systems are often safer, more affordable, and more efficient, with better routes and greater workforce opportunities. Similarly, when a diverse range of affected community members offer their input on energy projects, outcomes improve and are more sustainable. Effective stakeholder engagement can help improve collective judgment and ensure the choices made by decision makers reflect the priorities of the people who actually use and are impacted by these systems.
The USAID and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Partnership recognizes the necessity of increasing gender integration and participation from underrepresented stakeholder groups. To achieve these goals, USAID and NREL developed the Action Plan for Gender Integration in Energy Activities as a first step to incorporate more intentional and impactful integration into its strategies and projects. The partnership also produced the report, Just and Sustainable Mobility Transition in the Transport Sector: A Conceptual Framework and Gender-Mainstreaming Case Studies, which underscores the critical need to integrate gender in transportation planning, particularly as women and other marginalized groups often face significant challenges in accessing safe, reliable, and affordable transportation.
In addition to acknowledging the need for greater gender integration, USAID and NREL recognize the importance of engaging with key stakeholders in energy and transportation planning. USAID and NREL published Strategies and Good Practices to Support Robust Stakeholder Engagement in Multi-Sector Energy Transition Planning to provide guidance on how to effectively engage diverse and underrepresented stakeholders in the transition to clean energy systems across different sectors, such as transportation, power, and buildings. The report emphasizes involving affected groups, including women, early in the planning process to ensure that their input is considered in decision making.
All three reports align the partnership’s work with the broader goals of USAID's 2022-2030 Climate Strategy, which emphasizes the importance of gender integration and promotes an inclusive approach that incorporates stakeholder engagement to achieve sustainable outcomes. Here are two of the case studies featured in the reports:
Women Rickshaw Drivers in Delhi, India
In 2021, the Delhi Transport Department in India rolled out a gender-inclusive pilot project that reserved 33 percent of newly issued electric rickshaw permits for women. These electric rickshaws, which were color-coded with blue for male drivers and lilac for female drivers, yielded impressive results. After 20 years of having only one female driver, Delhi increased the number of women drivers to over 500 out of a total of 3,500 electric rickshaw drivers in the city. This program exemplifies how gender-focused programming and policies can drive gender equity.
Community Feedback for Clean Energy in Los Angeles, California
In Los Angeles, California, the Department of Water and Power, NREL, the University of California Los Angeles, and Kearns and West collaborated on the LA100 Equity Strategies to solicit and prioritize community feedback that would achieve equitable outcomes in the transition to clean energy. With this goal in mind, the teams conducted extensive stakeholder engagement, including forming an advisory committee, a steering committee of community leaders, and conducting 15 community listening sessions. NREL used the feedback offered by these stakeholder groups to identify strategies for a more equitable distribution of benefits, burdens, and costs. Incorporating this stakeholder input profoundly influenced the priorities and focus areas of this work.
As the USAID-NREL Partnership continues to align its efforts with USAID’s Climate Strategy, the emphasis on gender integration and stakeholder engagement remains vital. These approaches enhance the effectiveness of clean energy and mobility projects, improving the lives of women and communities affected by these projects and enabling these groups to play a leading role in shaping a sustainable future.
Emily Kolm
Emily Kolm (she/her) is an International Partnerships Writer and Project Coordinator with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Communications team. She is a graduate of the University of Denver, with an M.A. in International Studies.
