South Asia Women in Energy (SAWIE)
Women in India form a significant percentage of the overall workforce in unorganized sectors like agriculture and construction but their participation in organized sectors is limited. For example, women representation in India’s Public-Sector Undertakings (PSU), which constitutes a large employment base in the country spread across key organized sectors, constituted only 4.5% of the total Work Force (2011). Similarly, women employees in Central Public-Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in India stood at 9.36 per cent in 2015-16, according to data released by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE). The male dominance in the workforce of CPSE is often attributed to the nature of operations i.e. infrastructure and heavy engineering sectors. Such low gender representation in this large employment segment of the economy requires remediation as none of these segments is outside the reach of women.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) have officially launched the “South Asia Women in Energy (SAWIE) platform to promote women’s empowerment and gender sensitization in the energy sector in South Asia region.
Announced last year in September by Edgard Kagan as Chargé d’Affaires, U.S. Embassy, the platform will bring together leaders, particularly women leaders, across the energy sector to design interventions focused around outreach and recruitment; mentorship and leadership; increasing women’s participation in networking and brainstorming events, and professional development that can help bridge the gender gaps. You too can be part of this initiative. USAID is supporting the SAWIE platform under its “Greening the Grid – Renewable Integration and Sustainable Energy (GTG-RISE)” Initiative, a bilateral project with the Ministry of Power. GTG-RISE is a key initiative under USAID’s Asia EDGE (Enhancing Growth and Development through Energy).
For more information on SAWIE and how to join the network, please visit http://sawie.org/
OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS
ABOUT SAWIE
SAWIE aims to provide a platform for women to form a collaborative and strategic approach towards reaching gender equality goals and building strong pillars across the energy sector. SAWIE aims to strengthen a regional network of Institutional partners across public and private sector utilities across South Asia Region.
