Transition Inequity: gendered employment trends in New Zealand’s energy industries

Abstract

Energy industries are experiencing a period of rapid and sustained change as nations seek to meet climate policy targets. In Aotearoa New Zealand a gap in both information about and attention to the gendered dimensions of the proposed low-emissions transition has emerged. This silence has implications for the distributive impacts of any transition. We present data illustrating the sub-sector variation in women’s employment, pay, tenure and executive representation in both the electricity and fossil fuel industries. Recommendations are presented for more sustained policy attention to how an energy transition, given current gendered employment trends, is unlikely to be inclusive or just.