Solar Industry Asks Women: What Keeps You Here?

Women hold nearly a third of renewable energy jobs, but far fewer reach leadership roles or technical positions. Now, an organization wants to understand why by asking women themselves.

Women in Solar+ Europe just launched a five-minute survey for women working across solar, battery storage, EV charging, and related fields. Instead of just counting how many women work in these industries, they're asking what attracted them, what makes them stay, and what helps them advance.

The timing matters. The energy transition is creating millions of jobs worldwide, but the International Renewable Energy Agency found that women make up just 28% of technical roles and only 19% of senior leadership in renewables. The agency points to workplace culture and organizational barriers, not lack of interest or skills, as the main obstacles.

The survey explores the factors that actually shape women's careers: workplace flexibility, communication styles, professional development opportunities, and whether they can envision a long-term future in the field. Those answers will feed directly into the European Solar Jobs Report 2026, giving industry leaders concrete data on what needs to change.

This isn't just about fairness. The quality of jobs being created during the energy transition matters as much as the quantity. Understanding who stays, who advances, and who shapes the industry's future helps everyone build better workplaces.

Women in Solar+ Europe plans to use the responses to build an ongoing evidence base. One challenge advocates face is simply lacking data on where action is most needed. This survey starts closing that gap.

The Ripple Effect

When industries understand what their employees actually need, everyone benefits. Better retention means more experienced teams. More diverse leadership means better decision-making. And workplaces designed around real human needs, not assumptions, create stronger companies and faster progress toward clean energy goals.

The survey also invites men to participate differently: by sharing it widely with women in their networks and teams. Sometimes the most powerful support is amplifying voices that need to be heard.

Results will be analyzed collectively and published as original insights, giving the solar industry a clearer picture of how to attract and keep talented people. The survey closes September 12, 2026, and every response helps transform individual experiences into industry-wide improvements.

Five minutes of input could help reshape an entire sector's approach to building inclusive, sustainable careers in the jobs powering our clean energy future.