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ENERGIA News Issue 2.1, February 1998

Women Professionals in Energy in Latin America: How Many?

Stella Maris Torres

This article attempts to pull together a few preliminary ideas on the theme of the participation of women in the energy sector in Latin America: not as end-users of energy, but rather as professionals in energy bodies, enterprises or institutions in general.

The major difficulty is obtaining information by gender, given that the majority of private and public enterprises do not provide statistics by gender, and as a result it is difficult and expensive to obtain this information. Nonetheless, an attempt is made here to indirectly assess the development of women's participation in the energy sector in Latin America, using available data on women's enrolment between 1970 and 1997 in an advanced inter-regional course on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy offered annually by the Institute for Energy Economics (Instituto de Economía Energético-IDEE) in Bariloche, Argentina.

Women in energy in Latin America

Women's participation in the energy domain depends on both the political, social and economic circumstances in individual countries, and on the specific characteristics of the sector: energy is considered a predominantly “masculine” profession.

In fact (leaving aside administrative and legal positions), women professionals working in the energy sector in Latin America have historically been either engineers or economists. Since it was only in the 1970s that women began to make inroads in these professions, little feminine participation in the energy sector could be expected up to that time.

During the 1980s, a more interdisciplinary concept began to be introduced in energy enterprises and institutions in Latin America, namely, working in teams. In brief, huge technological advances, the increased role of communications, the increasing importance of economics as a tool in decision-making, and the intertwining of different disciplines created new professional positions in the energy sector, beyond the traditional professions of engineers and economists. These trends allowed women to have more access to positions in the energy sector.

But in spite of these changes in the approach to energy sector employment, there are still relatively few women working in the sector in the region.

Some statistics

IDEE's postgraduate course on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy has been offered annually since 1970. Latin American professionals working in the energy field participate in the course. It can be seen that the percentage of female participants in the course grew systematically from the 1970s to the 1990s, as a total as well as for female engineers. Except in the decade of the 1980s, the proportion of non-engineering participants is higher than for engineering; however the percentages for the two groups can be seen to be approaching one another in the 1990s.

Three aspects can be highlighted concerning participation in the course by gender: first, the increasing participation of women as a percentage of the total; secondly, the nationality of the participants, and thirdly, their professional backgrounds.

Women's increasing participation

It is clear that the number of women participants in the course has increased considerably in recent years. In the 1970s, the average percentage of women participants was 10%, rising in the 1980s to 17.2% and in the 1990s to an average of 23.5%.

This increase in female participation is due to two fundamental reasons: on the one hand, a higher level of education for women has permitted them to attain correspondingly higher and more responsible positions; and on the one hand there is more social consciousness of the importance of women's participation, including in the energy sector.

It is also worth noting that today, the institutions that finance training courses and seminars usually recommend that, other things being equal, women be selected for courses, in order to guarantee their increased participation. IDEE itself supports this recommendation, and takes gender into account in selecting from applicants for its annual course.

National origin of female participants affects participation

Another relevant aspect is the nationality of women participants. Up to 1975, female participants in the course were exclusively from Argentina. This clearly indicates the additional difficulty that women confront when they are obliged to leave home for an extended time, especially to travel to a foreign country. This problem still exists today (though to a lesser extent), as women with children are placed under family and social pressure, as well as professional pressure. In spite of these difficulties, the participation of Latin American women in the courses is slowly increasing.

Within Argentina, the political and economic circumstances in Argentina in this period impacted especially strongly on women, influencing the participation of Argentinian women in the IDEE course. During the period between 1976 and 1983, under the military regime, there were no female participants in the course. This situation started to reverse in 1983, when democracy was restored, but did not stabilise in later years. After 1990, there are even some years with no Argentinian women in the course.

Professional background of female participants

Finally, with respect to the professional background of women participants in the course, it can be seen that with the exception of the 1980s, most women participants were economists or managers in energy enterprises.

The participation of women engineers increased noticeably from the 1980s onwards, given that participation in the previous years was practically nil. It is important to remember that engineering has been perceived as a predominantly masculine profession, that women only entered in a significant way in the 1970s.

In the past few years (1995-1997), the participation of female engineers and female economists has been at similar levels. The other professions represented are essentially mathematics and statistics, mostly the latter.

Other statistics

Of the teaching staff for the course, women make up 9% of the 34 professors employed by IDEE, who organises the course. Despite this low percentage at the teaching level, co-ordination of the courses is shared equally by male and female staff.

Looking at a few other statistics, for example the number of papers presented at conferences or meetings by gender or even just their participation in meetings, it can be observed that female participation is seldom more than 10%. Unfortunately there is not much literature on participation by gender in energy training institutions or meetings in the energy sector, to permit an historical analysis of changes over time.

Conclusions

From the above it can be concluded that although the participation of women in the energy sector in Latin America has advanced, it has advanced extremely slowly, especially when compared with women's general advance in society.

It is indisputable that the participation of women in every economic sector is growing every day. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that women's effective participation can only be realised through wider access to education. We cannot forget the statistics that highlight the fact that in a society with the family in crisis, every day more women are obliged to take care of their children, limiting their access to education. Better access by women to middle and higher education would allow society as a whole to guarantee a better education for future generations.

In the energy sector, even though women's participation is not yet significant at the level of decision-making, there is no doubt that much has been achieved.

The author is an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Energy Economics (IDEE) in Bariloche, Argentina, where she is responsible for co-ordinating the postgraduate course on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy. She also works as a consultant for the Board of Directors of the Bariloche Electricity Cooperative. For more information and correspondence, please contact:
Stella Maris Torres, Fundación Bariloche - IDEE, Avenida 12 de Octubre 1915-CC 138, Bariloche, Argentina; Tel./Fax +54.944.22050, Email fb@bariloche.com.ar