The Caribbean’s transition to renewable energy will not succeed unless women are given a greater role in shaping the sector, regional leaders and energy experts have warned.
That was the key message emerging from a CARICOM Secretariat webinar titled “Gender Mainstreaming in Energy: Closing the Gender Gap,” where policymakers and industry experts argued that the future of Caribbean energy depends as much on social inclusion as it does on technological innovation.
Hosted by the CARICOM Secretariat in collaboration with the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), the webinar explored strategies to increase women’s participation in technical careers, executive leadership and energy sector decision-making across the region.
Brian Constantine, Project Officer for Energy at the CARICOM Secretariat, said longstanding inequalities continue to limit opportunities for women. “Gender mainstreaming in energy is essential for addressing the persistent inequalities and ensuring that women benefit equally from energy access, services, and opportunities,” Constantine said.
Feature presenter Gloria Alvarenga, Director for Energy Integration, Access and Security at OLADE, stressed that the global shift toward renewable energy is about far more than replacing traditional power sources. “The energy transition is often described as a technological transformation. However, it is also a social and institutional transformation. The way countries design policies determines who has access to opportunity, who participates in decision-making, who benefits from investments, and who carries the cost of change,” Alvarenga explained.
She noted that women remain significantly underrepresented in engineering, grid operations and executive management, warning that excluding them weakens public policy and undermines efforts to build resilient energy systems. “Closing the gender gap in energy is not a marginal issue. It is central to the success of the energy transition. Gender mainstreaming is a tool for better governance. It helps governments identify who is being left behind, who is missing from decision-making, and what must change so that energy systems serve development, equality and sustainability,” she said.
Participants also questioned how governments could embed gender equity into national utilities instead of relying on temporary donor-driven initiatives.
Responding to those concerns, Sandra Britton, Programme Manager for Energy at the CARICOM Secretariat, said regional organisations are already working to integrate gender considerations into long-term energy programmes.
“We’re moving in the direction where we’re integrating all elements so that we could have gender and vulnerable groups being addressed and be given a voice as we roll out our programs,” Britton said.
She added that the CARICOM Secretariat is collaborating with institutions including the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) to strengthen gender integration across the region’s energy sector.
Closing the webinar, Alvarenga called for stronger partnerships among governments, private utility companies, financial institutions and civil society, arguing that no single organisation can achieve gender equality on its own and that collaboration is essential to building a more inclusive and sustainable Caribbean energy future.
