The shift to a low-carbon economy isn’t only a technical challenge. It’s a talent challenge. Renewable energy now employs 16.6 million people worldwide, yet women hold just 32% of those jobs and only 19% of senior roles (IRENA, 2025). An industry that needs every skilled pair of hands is still leaving much of its talent on the sidelines.
This article looks at why there are still so few women in renewable energy, what global initiatives are doing about it, and what change looks like on the ground: in a small workshop in İzmir, Turkey, where refugee women are training as solar technicians.
Why are so few women in renewable energy?
Renewables already do better than fossil fuels. Women hold 32% of full-time renewable energy jobs, compared with 23% in oil and gas (IRENA and ILO, 2025). But that share has not moved since IRENA’s first gender survey in 2019.
The gap is widest where the technical work and the big decisions happen:
| Role in renewable energy | Women’s share |
| Administrative roles | 45% |
| STEM roles | 28% |
| Trades (installers, electricians, machine operators) | 22% |
| Senior management | 19% |
Source: IRENA, Renewable Energy: A Gender Perspective (2025).
In other words, women are present in renewable energy, but mostly in office roles. They are far less present on rooftops, in workshops and in boardrooms.
Women in clean energy: why the gender gap matters
The clean energy transition needs skilled people more than ever. Solar PV alone employs 7.2 million people, more than any other renewable technology (IRENA and ILO, 2025). A sector that recruits from only part of the population will struggle to fill those jobs.
Where women’s share is highest also tells a story. IRENA found women make up around 35% of the workforce in off-grid and community-based organizations, and nearly 48% in NGOs. These are the parts of the sector closest to the households that new energy systems are meant to serve.
Closing the gap is about fairness, too. Technical clean energy skills lead to stable, well-paid work. When women are shut out of training, they are shut out of that income.
Clean energy education and empowerment: what global initiatives are doing
Since 2010, the Clean Energy Ministerial has run the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment initiative, known as C3E, to close the gender gap in energy careers. Its work covers five areas:
- Awards and recognition for women driving clean energy progress
- Gender data and benchmarking
- Career development and mentorship
- Dialogue and communications
- The Equal by 30 campaign
Equal by 30 launched in May 2018 at the ninth Clean Energy Ministerial in Copenhagen. Signatories commit to equal pay, equal leadership and equal opportunities for women in clean energy by 2030. More than 100 organizations had joined by the following year, and the International Energy Agency coordinates the campaign (Clean Energy Ministerial).
Initiatives like these set targets and build the evidence. But the gap only closes when individual women get the skills, the confidence and the support to take on technical work.
Women in solar: from training to technician
Trades are where women are least represented, at 22% of jobs. They are also where practical, hands-on training can open doors quickly. Installing a home solar system, soldering a circuit or maintaining a battery are learnable skills. They don’t require a university degree.
That is the idea behind community solar training programs around the world. Our own program in Turkey is one example.
Case study: solar training for refugee women in Turkey
Since 2018, Imece’s Solar Age project has trained refugee and migrant women in İzmir as solar technicians (WEDO). We call them the Solar Ladies. They learn basic electricity and electrical soldering, and how to build, install and maintain home solar systems (Ashden).
So far, 200 women have completed the training.
The skills turn into real products. Trainees assemble EFE (Energy For Everyone) power banks: portable lights and phone chargers that charge from the sun or from mains power. They are built for people in camps and on migration routes. More than 300 have reached families in Turkey, in Bosnia and on the Ukrainian border.
Training comes with support around it: Turkish lessons, education for trainees’ children, and help with legal registration, which many women find very difficult. After the course, trainees are helped to find paid work assembling electronic products.
As one trainee from Cameroon told Ashden: “I felt like I could do it as a woman.”
The project has been recognized internationally:
- Gender Just Climate Solutions Award at COP26 (2021)
- Ashden Awards finalist, Energising Refugee Livelihoods (2022)
We are now building on this experience with Back to Home, a vocational program that trains Syrian women preparing to return home in home electricity, solar installation and other practical skills.
Solar Age works in the same part of the sector IRENA’s data flags: hands-on trades, where only 22% of workers are women.
The bigger lesson: education and empowerment go hand in hand
Knowledge without support rarely lasts. A woman who learns to install a solar panel also needs childcare, a recognized status and a route to paid work. Support without skills falls short, too.
The global initiatives and our small workshop in İzmir point to the same answer: close the gap with training and support together.
How you can help
Every Solar Age graduate started with one training place. You can help the next woman take hers.
- Donate to Solar Age: fund training, tools and EFE power banks for families on the move
- Give monthly: steady support lets a small team plan the next course
- Volunteer with us in İzmir or from home
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of renewable energy workers are women?
About 32% of full-time renewable energy jobs, according to IRENA’s 2025 data. In oil and gas, the share is 23%.
Which renewable energy jobs have the fewest women?
Senior management (19%) and the trades, such as installers and electricians (22%).
What is C3E?
C3E is the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial. It works to close the gender gap in energy careers and runs the Equal by 30 campaign.
How can women get into solar energy?
Short, hands-on courses in basic electricity, soldering and solar installation are one route into technician work. Programs like Solar Age pair that training with language lessons, childcare and help finding work.
How can I support women in solar?
You can fund training places, volunteer, or share programs like Solar Age with your network.
About Imece İnisiyatifi
Imece İnisiyatifi Derneği (Imece Initiative) is a grassroots organization in İzmir, Turkey. For over a decade, we have worked with displaced families: emergency aid, getting children back into school through Back to School, and training refugee women as solar technicians through Solar Age. “Imece” is the Turkish tradition of a community coming together to do what no one could do alone.
