On April 11th, the Renewable Energy Student Association (RESA) at ACC will be collaborating with the Center for Students for Political Studies to host this all day event with presentations, workshops, and visiting businesses and organization that revolve around women in clean energy.
The event catalyzes around an often overlooked workforce in clean energy: females.
Often thought of as men's work in a patriarchal society, green jobs have focused mainly around building the infrastructure and energy generation equipment required to make the transition to clean energy.
This is a societal shortcoming, and one that RESA and ACC are attempting to tackle in a multitude of ways. Some of you might remember their big push to get women to enroll in their certificate programs at ACC. I personally loved the poster that depicted Rosie the Riveter with a hard hat on, saying yes we can! to women in green jobs.
A quick Google search of "Women in Clean Energy" returns a myriad of pages devoted to women in sectors of the clean energy economy. Sites like "Women in Renewable Energy", and "Women of Wind Energy", not to mention articles about Closing the Gender Gap and Women's Role in the Clean Energy Economy, show that women play a large role in this industry. Recently, the Department of Labor released their Guide entitled: "Why Green is Your Color: A Woman's Guide to a Sustainable Career". The cover photo even depicts a very happy looking, young women of color.
I am usually rather cynical about such things released by a federal agency, but it is nice to see the DoL, at least the Women's Bureau, paying attention to this growing economic sector and the role that women could play.
Right now they are calling for women in the clean energy field to do presentations, workshops, or have a table for your organization or business. Contact Jason Shaw, RESA president, to recieve a vendor form. Probably the biggest barrier for women wanting to get into the clean energy sector is a lack of women rolemodels, which is the greatest purpose for this conference and a precident for more like it to take place. It also should go without saying that if you are a women in the clean energy field, be loud and proud! Don't be afraid of taking recognition for your work for fear of looking less humble or too fierce (this is the patriarchy speaking). Women who are just getting into this field need strong women they can look up to and ask advice from. Don't be afraid of being that woman.
One of the most inspiring things about this new economy based on renewables has always been that the people supporting and pushing for it have, for the most part, understood that women can do it too. As the idea catches on this is not as much the case and we definitely have some work to do to increase the understanding of many of the men, and often women as well, about the patriarchal and oppressive aspects of assuming a woman can't do something a man could do. Each conversation is a chance for this dialog to occur. The event will take place at ACC's Eastview Campus in room 8500 (3401 Webberville Rd, 78702) and will run from 8:30am – 5:30pm on April 11th. Read more information about this and other events here. I personally think this event is a huge chance to challenge the perceived notions of gender roles in sustainability, because I promise you, we still have some work to do ladies.
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If you are a woman who works or has a passion for sustainability in Austin, there are many resources here for you. One of the main ones is Chicas Verdes, a monthly gathering of women in the green sector here who you will learn about over a casual luncheon. One of my favorite women in business centric blogs (not exclusively sustainability related) is 40:20 Vision, a blog about 40 something wisdom for 20 somethings who are "seeking advice from women who lived with the choices we face in our 20s".
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