Since 2018, we have featured 62 women leaders representing 22 different countries through the USAID and USEA Women in Energy Series. These women have shown exemplary leadership in gender equity and inclusion within the energy sector.
Starting this December 2022, in addition to the Women in Energy series we will feature a series of women’s networks that inspire, mentor, and help women achieve their full potential as tomorrow’s trailblazers. Through the Women in Energy: Network series, funded by USAID, we aim to assist women in finding new networks and expanding networking structures, increasing mentorship synergies, and increasing resource mobilization and sponsorship and financing opportunities. These women’s network highlights in the long run may aid a sustainable increase in women’s participation, innovation, and development in energy, industries, and other sectors.
This Women’s Network series, also reaffirms USEA’s focus on gender equity and equality working closely with USAID as a cross-cutting priority as fundamental to our work.
We hope that through this series we can connect professionally and run high-quality networks with each other to learn from each other, help each other solve critical development and financing hurdles, and identify gaps and overlaps to build deep connections and synergies. This series will help map shared knowledge resources and increase accountability while cross-pollinating for a deepened and more diverse and balanced pool of change agents.
Three stellar women’s groups to start the network series:
Women in Cybersecurity - WiCyS
Mission: Recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in Cybersecurity
Background: This group was established in 2012 by Dr. Ambareen Siraj of Tennessee Tech University through a National Science Foundation grant partnership. Over the past ten years, it has grown into an organization that represents leading alliances between champions from academia, government, and industry.
Initiatives: WiCyS, a global community of women, allies, and advocates, is dedicated to bringing talented women together to celebrate and foster their passion and drive for cybersecurity from industries including energy, automotive, and finance and lead conversations, trends, and mentorship in cybersecurity. They unite local communities of aspiring and thriving women cybersecurity professionals across the world to collaborate, share their knowledge, network, and mentor. It also creates opportunities through professional development programs, conferences, career fairs, student internships, and apprenticeship programs.
Value: With strategic partners including CISCO, Microsoft, AWS, Bloomberg, Google, and Meta among others, WiCyS has a very robust job board that enables registered members to post their profiles and upload their resumes. Strategic partners on the other hand can use the platform as a virtual job fair and seek candidature from WiCyS members. The WiCyS Cyber Talent emergency fund provides agile financial support for women students pursuing cybersecurity careers who are experiencing urgent, short-term financial barriers to success.
Website: https://www.wicys.org/
Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition - GWNET
Mission: Empowers women in energy through interdisciplinary networking, advocacy, training, coaching, and mentoring. GWNET seeks to address current gender imbalances in the energy sector and promotes gender-sensitive action around the energy transition in all parts of the world.
Background: GWNET was founded in 2017 in Austria as a global network aiming to empower women working in sustainable energy in all parts of the world at different career levels from both the public and private sectors. They help reduce gender inequality and underrepresentation at decision-making levels in energy-related fields.
Initiatives: GWNET is a women in energy expert platform that connects and empowers women working in sustainable energy around the world, with the aim to encourage greater visibility, networking opportunities, and professional connections between women. GWNET helps with knowledge sharing, generating, and disseminating information on the role of women in the energy transition to ultimately influence decision-making. GWNET also organizes webinars, conferences, seminars, and workshops that foster discussions and promote gender-sensitive action around the energy transition.
Value: The 2020 GWNET study “Women for Sustainable Energy – Strategies to Foster Women’s Talent for Transformational Change” contains an overview of women’s current participation in the sustainable energy workforce in developed and emerging economies, the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, industry interviews, good practice examples and recommendations for a more gender-diverse sector. GWNET offers an annual global mentoring program for women working in the energy sector, designed to accelerate the careers of women in junior/middle management positions in energy, supporting their pathway to leadership positions.
Website: https://www.globalwomennet.org/
Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment – WCEE
Mission: The network provides nonpartisan, policy-neutral forums on energy and environmental issues to foster the professional development of its members.
Background: WCEE was founded 41 years ago to support professional advancement for women in energy and the environment and is among the oldest networks supporting women in energy.
Initiatives: The organization provides educational and networking opportunities with informative events with industry leaders, professional and career transition events, safe space meet-ups, etc.
Value: Every year WCEE annually celebrates a woman and a champion of the year. The Woman of the Year award honors women in energy and environment and the Champion award recognizes the importance of mentors for women professionals and honors individuals who have championed the advancement of women in energy industries. From 2022 WCEE has also started a Sparks award celebrating women championing innovation and impacting their organization or profession in the early stages of their career.
Website: https://www.wcee.org/
To learn more about this series and participate write to [email protected]
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