By Stefania Fabrizio, Florence Jaumotte, Marina M. Tavares
Men hold about 70 percent of the world’s polluting jobs, so one might think that they have the most to lose from the transition to cleaner energy. After all, they risk finding themselves out of work as countries close down dirty industries in a push to decarbonize and reach net-zero emission targets. Yet our analysis shows that women are also at risk of losing out over the course of the transition. That’s because too few women study the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects that are vital to the green jobs of the future.
Women are much more underrepresented in green jobs, which improve environmental sustainability or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, than in polluting jobs, those in industries with per-worker emissions in the top five percent of polluters. While most workers work in neutral jobs, that gap is important because green jobs, which already employ one in 10 workers, are poised for much faster employment growth as the world shifts toward a sustainable economy.