Women defending the environment
Mar 1, 2024
Committed
Like many others, the energy sector has historically been more male-dominated. But, as elsewhere, this does not mean that all contributions to its development have been made by men. From the invention of fire to the most recent technological advances, women have played a key role in the development of energy around the world.
Women have been present in the development of energy all over the world with a decisive participation in the development of the energy sector
Women entrepreneurs who found solutions to specific problems or who found a better way of doing things. Facing not only the obstacles that arise when undertaking a project, such as getting the necessary resources to make it a success, but also stereotypes and glass ceilings.
At the end of the 19th century many women began to step forward to gain due recognition, making important contributions to the development of a sector as important as energy. From then until now, although much remains to be done to achieve real equality, the weight of women’s participation is growing and, fortunately, so is the recognition and dissemination of the names that bring about advances for society as a whole.
Entrepreneurship, however, remains a difficult area of access for many women. According to the Entrepreneurship Map 2023, carried out by South Summit in collaboration with IE University, the percentage of startups founded by women has remained the same for the last 10 years. They account for 20% of the total, either alone, in partnership with other women or in mixed teams (accounting for more than 30% of the total).
Entrepreneurship, however, remains a difficult area of access for many women
Start-ups founded by women alone have grown this year compared to 2022, but when compared to the presence of female talent in companies, universities or society itself, they are still under-represented at 8% (compared to 6% last year).
While many of the key names of female energy entrepreneurs have not reached us in similar numbers to the male examples, the actual contributions have been evenly matched. Let us dwell on some of them, without whom the energy world would be very different today.
This American physicist was the first woman to receive the National Medal of Sciences in Engineering in 1990. It is not the only award she won, and it is no wonder. Known as the “queen of carbon”, she made important contributions to research on graphite, graphene and carbonaceous materials in general, essential for the development of batteries and solar panels.
Born in 1930, she was active in materials physics and nanotechnology. As a professor at MIT, she promoted diversity and inclusion in technical careers and was a tireless advocate for women and minorities in STEM disciplines.
Known for inventing the first centralised gas heating system, this inventor revolutionised the way buildings are heated.
Before her invention, homes were usually heated with cookers and furnaces using wood, coal or other solid fuels, but Parker patented a system in 1919 for heating air with natural gas and distributing it through ducts to different rooms.
This invention laid the foundation for modern heating systems. Systems that are cleaner, with better temperature control, higher efficiency and lower cost than those used at the time.
This Hungarian physicist specialised in the research of solar energy storage systems and the design of systems for the use of solar energy in everyday applications.
In 1947 she invented the first solar thermal house, which used solar panels to heat the air circulating in the house. In the following years, she also designed systems to produce hot water, heating and cooling from solar energy.
As early as the 1950s, she developed a molten salt solar energy storage system as part of the MIT Solar Project. She was a pioneer who paved the way for the development of the solar technologies of the future.
Born in 1959, Hau is a Danish physicist who is widely recognised as an expert in the field of quantum optics. In 1999 she led a team at Harvard that succeeded in slowing down light to just 17 metres per second (the slowest recorded speed of light at the time).
Her research into quantum optics and in the manipulation and control of light may have applications in the development of more efficient and advanced technologies for energy generation, storage and transmission.
Lene Vestergaard Hau is another diversity and equality champion, who continues to work today to improve women’s participation in science in general and physics in particular.
Meitner was born in Vienna in 1878 and studied physics at the University of Vienna, where she obtained her doctorate in 1905. She then moved to Berlin, where she worked alongside Otto Hahn in the chemistry department of the Kaise Wilhelm Society, with whom she would make fundamental advances in the understanding of atomic and nuclear physics.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are key to further progress in the energy sector
Later, in 1945, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Otto Hahn, ignoring Lise Meitner’s work. In addition to helping to discover nuclear fission, she offered the first theoretical explanation of the process without getting the recognition she deserved.
Meitner fought all her life against discrimination, not only because she was a woman. In 1938, due to her Jewish ancestry, she had to flee to Sweden, continuing her work at the University of Stockholm.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are key to further progress in the energy sector. That is why it is important that we give them the visibility they deserve.