Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 23RD - 29TH MARCH 2018 | 17 Policy & Regulation W e oen hear about the energy industry in transition – whether it's the ever-increasing number of players in the retail market or the seismic shi that's happening in how we generate and use our energy. But are we also seeing a shi in the industry's diversity? On International Women's Day on 8 March, I chaired an event at Energy UK looking at the role of women in the energy sector – from senior leaders to those out in the field as engineers. What became clear was that, while there has been progress in increasing gender bal- ance, we have a way to go if we are to challenge the pale, stale, male stereotype and look more like our customers. POWERful Women, the organisation that seeks to advance the professional growth of women in the energy sector, recently published its Igniting Change report, which found that 46 per cent of the top 80 energy com- panies had all-male boards, and at executive board level just 7 per cent of seats are occupied by women. Sadly that's not something unique to our sector, of course – it's a similarly depressing picture when looking more broadly, with the Hampton-Alexander Review last November finding just 59 of the FTSE350 companies met the Davies Review target of 33 per cent of women on boards. While that target is set for 2020, the rate of change will need to increase considerably if it is to be achieved, such that one of every two appointments before then would need to be to a woman. I am glad to say we don't have that problem at Energy UK – in fact women outnumber men 3:1 in our senior leadership team, with all three of our directors being women. However we know we can't rest on our laurels and we recognise we are in a unique position to help facilitate change and sup- port women across the sector. That's why we have created a new Equality and Diversity Forum, which will meet for the first time this month. It will bring together HR directors, internal net- work or equality and diversity leads across the indus- try, as well as experts from outside the sector, in order to share experiences and drive forward best practice. We also work closely with groups such as POWERful Women, the Women's Engineering Society – who do a huge amount around returners and mentoring – plus the brilliant WISE campaign, which aims to help build and sustain the pipeline of female talent in science, technol- ogy, engineering and maths (STEM). Only one in four people working in STEM in the UK are female and women make up just 4 per cent of engineering apprentices. Similarly, while there has been an increase, women only account for 24 per cent of graduates in STEM subjects. The importance of encouraging girls to take an interest in STEM subjects is behind EDF Energy's 'Pretty Curious' campaign, which seeks to battle misconcep- tions and address some of the reasons young women are being put off. Over the past three years, the campaign has facili- tated face-to-face events with more than 2,300 girls right across the country, and worked with everyone from 20th Century Fox and Disney to the Edinburgh Inter- national Science Festival to get the message out there to young women and open their eyes to the varied career opportunities available. To spark conversation between girls and their parents about STEM and to help them take steps to find out more, Pretty Curious created a fantastic film to play ahead of the movies Hidden Figures and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which have seen more than 40 million admis- sions, while its inspirational digital content has been viewed more than six million times. Another impressive aspect of the campaign, however, is its contribution to the wider company. The ambitious target was to achieve 30 per cent of females entering the EDF Energy apprenticeship scheme – this is now at 33 per cent and steadily increasing in some areas; for example, the target is up to 50 per cent for engineering maintenance apprenticeships. This is further evidence of progress and positive change for the sector ahead. This year's International Women's Day was the big- gest yet and with gender pay gap requirements coming in this April, which affect all organisations with more than 250 employees, gender issues are guaranteed to remain firmly in the spotlight. I'm pleased that Energy UK is leading a lot of work in this area and by working together across the sector and sharing best practice hopefully we will replicate the rapid rate of change we are seeing in every other area of the energy industry. Abbie Sampson, director of external affairs, Energy UK Comment Abbie Sampson "Only one in four people working in STEM in the UK are female and women make up just 4 per cent of engineering apprentices."

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