At this first meeting, the preliminary results of the survey taking place with the members of RESCOOP were presented and we found that female participation in the Boards of energy cooperatives is still quite low, while there seems to be a greater participation of women in Executive Councils (in this case of the cooperatives that have them). Gender equality seems to be a medium priority for cooperatives, and only a few already include this principle in their official documents.

Coopérnico is also responsible for promoting greater participation of women in the cooperative, as well as in the energy sector in Portugal. At the first meeting of the “Energy Power” working group, we took a few moments to put on the table our vision of a future in which “women are deeply involved in their local cooperatives and actively contribute to the development of decentralized, citizen-centric systems ”. A future in which more “female faces supporting the mission and daily functioning of REScoops become visible”, and in which the sector goes beyond the issue of representation, and is able to consider, assess and “take advantage of the specific value of female participation ”. We all agree that it is worth fighting for a future in which greater equality in the governing bodies of cooperatives reflects gender equality among cooperative members.

Our team is committed to highlighting the value women bring to the energy transition, as well as learning and implementing integration tools that can support us in materializing an energy transition guided (also) by a principle of gender justice. We are proud and inspired after this first step, and ready to act to make it happen!

Do you also want to join this working group?

Contact Inês Campos: iccampos@coopernico.org

For more information about our group follow the link: https://www.rescoop.eu/gender-power#gender-power-working-group