The energy transition is creating millions of jobs worldwide. Yet measuring progress only through the number of positions created provides an incomplete picture. As the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) highlights in its Renewable Energy and Jobs: Annual Review 2025, attention must also be paid to job quality, security, career prospects and whether opportunities are distributed fairly.
We often assume that career opportunities and progression are determined primarily by skills, experience and performance. In practice, however, the environments in which those decisions are made also play an important role.
IRENA’s latest gender research shows that women hold 32% of full-time renewable energy jobs. However, they remain concentrated in administrative positions, while their participation declines to 28% in STEM-related roles and only 19% in senior management and board positions. IRENA identifies cultural and organisational norms, rather than a lack of skills or interest, as significant barriers to women’s participation and advancement.
These figures tell us something important about where we are, but they do not tell us enough about what happens throughout women’s careers or the workplace conditions behind those numbers.
What attracts women to Solar+ in the first place? What makes them stay? What helps them progress? How important are flexibility, communication, workplace culture, leadership and access to career opportunities? And can women see themselves building a long-term career in our industries?
These are some of the questions we want to explore in our article for the European Solar Jobs Report 2026. Rather than relying solely on existing research, we want to build part of the article from the experiences of women working across Solar+ today.
Five minutes to help us build the data
Women in Solar+ Europe is launching a short survey for women working across solar, energy storage, EV charging, grid infrastructure and the wider ecosystem supporting these industries.
The survey explores what attracted women to the sector and the factors influencing their decisions to stay and progress, including career opportunities, workplace flexibility, communication, inclusion, leadership and professional development. It takes approximately five minutes to complete.
Responses will be analysed collectively and transformed into original insights for our article in SolarPower Europe’s Solar Jobs Report 2026. This will allow us to complement existing representation figures with a deeper understanding of the experiences behind the numbers.
For WiSEu, this is also only the beginning. One of the challenges we continue to encounter when discussing women’s representation is the lack of data available to understand where action is most needed. We want to help close that gap by progressively building an evidence base that supports better-informed decisions across our industries.
The energy transition is ultimately about more than capacity, investment and cost. It is also about people, human well-being and the quality of the jobs being created. Building an inclusive workforce therefore requires us to understand not only who enters the sector, but also who stays, who progresses and who has the opportunity to shape its future.
We need your voice
If you are a woman working in Solar+, we invite you to take the survey. Five minutes of your time can help us build a stronger picture of what women need to join, stay and progress in our industries.
If you are a man, this time we ask you to help us spread the word. Please share the survey with the women in your teams, organisations and professional networks, and encourage them to participate.
The survey closes on 12 September 2026.
Every response will help us move beyond representation figures and build a clearer picture of what women need to join, stay and progress in Solar+. We hope you will add your voice, and encourage others to do the same.
Ready to contribute by completing the 5-minute survey? Visit www.wiseu.network
The post What makes women join, stay and progress in Solar+? appeared first on pv magazine Global.
