Quality Employment for Women in the Green Economy
Citation:
Hegewisch, Ariane, Jeff Hayes, Tonia Bui, and Anlan Zhang. 2013. Quality Employment for Women in the Green Economy. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Women's Policy Research.
Authors: Ariane Hegewisch, Jeff Hayes, Tonia Bui, Anlan Zhang
Annotation:
Summary:
Investments in the green economy have many potential benefits such as reduced pollution, enhanced energy security, and increased competitiveness and export earnings for the U.S. economy. Such investments, particularly in energy conservation, also have the potential to create jobs with family-sustaining wages that do not require college degrees. Given women’s greater propensity to earn less than family-sustaining wages, this characteristic of green jobs is, arguably, particularly relevant to women. This report provides the first detailed estimates of women’s employment in the green economy, state-by-state, by industry, and by occupation. It finds that women working in the green economy have higher earnings than other women and that the gender wage gap in green jobs is lower than in the economy overall. Women are, however, much less likely than men to work in green jobs and are particularly underrepresented in the occupations that are predicted to grow most strongly in the green sector. The report suggests that state and national workforce development policies need to explicitly address women’s underrepresentation in green growth occupations to ensure that investment in the green economy equally benefits women’s and men’s economic prospects.
Table of Contents:
1. Methodology: Estimating the Gender Distribution of Green Jobs
2. Findings: The Gender and Race/Ethnic Distribution of Green Jobs
3. Findings: Growth Projections for the Green Economy
4. Conclusion: Gender Segregation, Green Jobs, and Pathways Into Careers with Family-Sustaining Wages for Women
Topics: Economies, Ecological Economics, Environment, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Energy, Livelihoods, Race Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America
Year: 2013
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