Creating Opportunities for Women in Ethiopia's Energy Sector

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00:01 Ethiopia is undertaking an ambitious project

00:04 to achieve universal electricity access by 2025.

00:08 At the same time,

00:10 the Ethiopian Electric Utility

00:12 EEU.

00:14 Is working to make women better represented

00:17 in the male dominated sector.

00:19 That starts with changing the experience for future energy workers,

00:23 engineering students like Dark Mawit.

00:26 I do really have to work extra hard because as a woman,

00:29 the first thing they see when they look at me is she's not supposed to be here.

00:34 That's,

00:34 that's what they think.

00:35 Creating a more equal setting for engineering students.

00:39 And the EEU workforce

00:41 is driven by the organisation's leadership.

00:44 For our utility to be effective,

00:47 uh,

00:48 in its corporate objective,

00:50 uh,

00:50 we need to create a conducive environment,

00:54 uh,

00:55 which means

00:56 we have to,

00:57 uh,

00:58 create enabling environment

01:01 both for men and women.

01:03 Creating an enabling environment

01:06 started with protecting workers from gender-based violence

01:09 with World Bank support.

01:11 You have a scenario where you have power imbalances,

01:15 and we also know based on global prevalence

01:18 rates that sexual harassment happens at the workplace.

01:22 So what we started was through A grant from the World Bank side,

01:27 we brought in

01:29 experts to work with the utility to do an assessment across the country.

01:33 Those experts helped the EU create and

01:36 adopt its first ever sexual harassment policy,

01:40 including codes of conduct.

01:42 The institutional review identified that there is

01:45 Legal provisions or legal documents

01:48 that defines

01:50 and protects

01:52 the survivors.

01:54 So having this document is a big step.

01:57 We can ensure that

01:58 by implementing

02:00 the sexual harassment code of conduct,

02:04 this will

02:05 protect

02:06 our female employees.

02:08 The utility is also helping women's rights

02:11 by providing leadership training.

02:14 Workers like Lemlem

02:15 see that as beneficial for everyone.

02:18 And if we engage

02:20 equal men and women

02:21 in different work sectors,

02:23 the feedback of our customers will be

02:26 great.

02:27 EEU has a goal of increasing its female workforce

02:31 from today's 20%.

02:34 The ideal case is to have at least

02:36 50/50%,

02:38 but

02:39 We cannot,

02:41 you know,

02:41 achieve that target

02:43 within a short period of time.

02:45 What we aspire is to have

02:47 30%

02:50 of our employees

02:52 to be female

02:54 within the coming 5 years.

02:56 The head of a new network for women in energy

02:59 shares the vision.

03:00 When we have more women and girls in the same table.

03:04 I think they will bring

03:06 a new kind of innovation

03:07 because they see the problem from a different perspective.

03:10 In partnership with the World Bank,

03:13 an energy sector management assistance program.

03:16 The utility has allocated $4.5 million

03:20 for closing gender gaps

03:22 and citizen engagement.

03:24 One of the ways that that budget is now being used,

03:27 for example,

03:28 is to fund full

03:30 scholarships for female staff to go back to university

03:35 to get a master's degree

03:37 or to gain certain technical training that they might lack.

03:41 Some of that budget is also being used to

03:43 Get female interns in STEM universities across the country to come experience what

03:49 working life would be at the utility for about 6 to 8 weeks.

03:53 Future energy leaders are working hard to seize the new opportunities.

03:58 Right now they're actually getting better because there

04:01 are female scholarships that they give out.

04:05 I actually applied recently and

04:08 I feel like it's actually getting better.

04:11 With ambitious goals for energy access

04:14 and closing gender gaps,

04:16 the EEU is embracing

04:18 the challenge.

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transcript

Ethiopia is undertaking an ambitious project to achieve universal electricity access by 2025. At the same time, the Ethiopian Electric Utility EEU. Is working to make women better represented in the male dominated sector. That starts with changing the experience for future energy workers, engineering students like Dark Mawit. I do really have to work extra hard because as a woman, the first thing they see when they look at me is she's not supposed to be here. That's, that's what they think. Creating a more equal setting for engineering students. And the EEU workforce is driven by the organisation's leadership. For our utility to be effective, uh, in its corporate objective, uh, we need to create a conducive environment, uh, which means we have to, uh, create enabling environment both for men and women. Creating an enabling environment started with protecting workers from gender-based violence with World Bank support. You have a scenario where you have power imbalances, and we also know based on global prevalence rates that sexual harassment happens at the workplace. So what we started was through A grant from the World Bank side, we brought in experts to work with the utility to do an assessment across the country. Those experts helped the EU create and adopt its first ever sexual harassment policy, including codes of conduct. The institutional review identified that there is Legal provisions or legal documents that defines and protects the survivors. So having this document is a big step. We can ensure that by implementing the sexual harassment code of conduct, this will protect our female employees. The utility is also helping women's rights by providing leadership training. Workers like Lemlem see that as beneficial for everyone. And if we engage equal men and women in different work sectors, the feedback of our customers will be great. EEU has a goal of increasing its female workforce from today's 20%. The ideal case is to have at least 50/50%, but We cannot, you know, achieve that target within a short period of time. What we aspire is to have 30% of our employees to be female within the coming 5 years. The head of a new network for women in energy shares the vision. When we have more women and girls in the same table. I think they will bring a new kind of innovation because they see the problem from a different perspective. In partnership with the World Bank, an energy sector management assistance program. The utility has allocated $4.5 million for closing gender gaps and citizen engagement. One of the ways that that budget is now being used, for example, is to fund full scholarships for female staff to go back to university to get a master's degree or to gain certain technical training that they might lack. Some of that budget is also being used to Get female interns in STEM universities across the country to come experience what working life would be at the utility for about 6 to 8 weeks. Future energy leaders are working hard to seize the new opportunities. Right now they're actually getting better because there are female scholarships that they give out. I actually applied recently and I feel like it's actually getting better. With ambitious goals for energy access and closing gender gaps, the EEU is embracing the challenge.

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PT4M35S

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worldbank/Ethiopia Electric

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worldbank/Ethiopia Electric-AVS

title

Ethiopia Electric

description

Ethiopia Electric

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