Women Shaping the Future of Green Hydrogen
Panel discussion at the World Hydrogen Congress 2021, organized by Women in Green Hydrogen.
Women in Green Hydrogen is on a quest to make energy transition more inclusive and diverse.
The Women in Green Hydrogen (WiGH) network was founded in 2020 to address the lack of equal representation in most hydrogen industry events and to support the work and contribution of the talented women working in the sector.
Data from IRENA and IEA studies show the prevalence of under-representation of women in green hydrogen related-industries, confirming the real need for women to be more engaged and visible.
“It has been widely proven that diversity unlocks innovation and drives market growth, and our sector is in great need of it,” states Afkenel Schipstra, Senior Vice President Business Development Hydrogen at ENGIE. Working towards its mission to “connect, empower and change,” WiGH thus seeks to drive up gender equality and increase visibility of women in the sector.
Through partnering with over 20 like-minded organisations and companies, WiGH aims to have at least 30% representation of women in industry event panels. In addition, over 35 in-person and virtual events have been hosted by WiGH globally to promote diversity in the Green Hydrogen sector by creating a safe space for women to network and discuss the developments in the sector, as well as showcasing female experts.
WiGH works to provide women with opportunities to connect, grow, and rise to executive roles, ultimately to bring about a positive change in the hydrogen sec-tor and the world. Today, in addition to organising women-oriented networking events, WiGH offers an Expert Database with over 700 profiles from 55 countries that enables event organisers to put together more diverse and inclusive speaker panels, broadening the conversation while curbing the gender gap.
Lastly, WiGH offers its Mentoring Program that matches women at junior and mid-management levels to improve connections and networking to change the hydrogen sector. This program is a great tool for capacity training and further empowerment of the future hydrogen leaders.
Through these tools and its network channels, WiGH connects and empowers women fostering innovation while contributing to increasing the diversity and inclusiveness in the energy sector. “The energy transition is not going to be easy,” states WiGH Co-Founder Brittany Westlake. “WiGH brings together a group of such talented, diverse women and I find it incredibly inspiring to be reminded that we do have the people and skills to tackle these really tough energy challenges.”
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