Despite the fact that 51% of the population in Mexico are women, only 10% participate in the energy sector, to which business organizations from the United States and our country have committed to increasing the empowerment of women and closing the gaps in gender in industry to raise productivity and boost growth.
Francisco Cervantes, president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), maintained that “the empowerment of women stimulates productivity and economic growth”, and in the energy sector equality is sought and barriers are eliminated.
Beth Urbanas, deputy assistant secretary for Asia and the Americas at the US Department of Energy, argued that given the current situation, women can play a very strong role in supporting “our countries” (the US and Mexico) to move to a more sustainable and modern approach in the energy industry.
When the workshop “Women in Energy. Closing the Gender Gap”, organized by the CCE and the United States Department of Energy (DOE), in coordination with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the Embassy of the United States in Mexico, which seeks to make visible the leadership of women in the energy industry, as well as to implement actions that promote and increase their participation in the sector.
“To address the climate crisis and achieve our shared clean energy goals, we need diverse perspectives on the table,” said the deputy secretary of the US Department of Energy, so that “removing barriers to having more women in leadership positions in the energy sector is a key part of that solution, as well as to reach our goal of an economy with zero polluting emissions no later than the year 2050”.
Lucía Bustamante, director of government relations for Shell Mexico, highlighted that the participation of women would increase productivity by between 15 and 20% in the energy industry.
“The CCE is 100% committed to inclusion, gender equality and improving the lives of women in Mexico. And we have the objective of promoting the growth of women in the industry with actions that favor the development of their potential. To achieve this, we must start from the fact that the promotion of gender equality is a cross-cutting issue that touches all social and business areas”, warned Francisco Cervantes.