{"id":12680,"date":"2018-06-27T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T19:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2018\/06\/27\/news-6448\/"},"modified":"2018-06-27T11:00:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T19:00:09","slug":"news-6448","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2018\/06\/27\/news-6448\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Women Should Reconsider a Career in Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Annette Clayton| Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2018 19:56:01 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing up on a small farm, there was an \u201call hands on deck\u201d mentality, where we did everything ourselves. I inherited an engineering mindset by watching things being pulled apart, repaired and reassembled. The more I investigated their inner workings, the more I became hooked. Working through college and grad school, I earned engineering degrees before deciding where to take my career.<\/p>\n

I considered the energy field, but said \u201cno thanks.\u201d Stodgy stereotypes and outdated thinking kept me away, as they had for many women. Being one of few female engineers at that time was challenging enough. I started as a process engineer at General Motors before continuing in global operations at Dell. But years later, here I am \u2014 working for Schneider Electric, at the crossroads of energy management and the Internet of Things (IoT). So, what\u2019s changed? A lot, actually.<\/p>\n

A modernizing industry<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Corporations have become more diverse and inclusive. There are more women on the customer and leadership ends. The end customer is not the male engineer he once was; she is a female CEO or sustainability manager. Her perspective changes business outcomes and rounds out discussions in powerful ways. It makes a difference in our orientation for customers and employees, and offers a rounded view of the problems they face. In encouraging progress at Schneider<\/a>, we can now report that 42 percent of board members are female, 21 percent of global leadership is female and more than 40 percent of new hires are women.<\/p>\n

Major corporations have introduced policies that are more attractive to female professionals. At the very point that many companies are identifying key talent, many women are making family decisions. Progressive companies like ours push the edge with pay equity and global family leave policies to help women manage their unique lives.<\/p>\n

Beyond these shifts, it\u2019s just an exciting time to be in energy. Industrial companies are turning into tech companies. We\u2019re fighting climate change<\/a> through IoT-enabled solutions<\/a>. We help buildings become more energy efficient and secure, and remote villages more resilient. But even with this positive change, just 20 percent of the energy workforce is female. It\u2019s the second least diverse industry in the country.<\/p>\n

Myth busting<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When I think about why this might be, I go back to the things that made me say \u201cno\u201d to an energy job at first. There\u2019s also a misconception that the sector is for science-types. I know many women in the field who are successful without engineering degrees. They\u2019re marketers, IT and HR professionals, salespeople, creatives and beyond. There\u2019s no set path into energy. We overthink what a qualified person looks like when what matters most is: great instinct, strong ethics, customer orientation and agility.<\/p>\n

It takes all kinds to push the industry forward. But even more compelling is the chance to work for a purpose-driven company that aligns with your beliefs. Like many, I always felt a desire to make a difference in the world. I didn\u2019t know how important it was to me until I started in energy. Schneider believes in access to energy as a basic human right, as do I. My role is helping connect the two billion people that don’t have access to the right level of energy because it changes lives. This motivates me every day.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still work to be done here \u2014 but real progress has been made. It\u2019s not the heavy industrial field it once was. Women are needed to drive the transformation for a more sustainable future.\u00a0Corporations are listening, and policies are shifting. As digitization opens new doors, it\u2019s a great time for women to rethink energy careers, just as I have.<\/p>\n

This post originally appeared in Media Planet’s Future of Business Tech<\/a>.
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The post Why Women Should Reconsider a Career in Energy<\/a> appeared first on Schneider Electric Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blog.schneider-electric.com\/feed\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Annette Clayton| Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2018 19:56:01 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing up on a small farm, there was an \u201call hands on deck\u201d mentality, where we did everything ourselves. I inherited an engineering mindset by watching things being pulled apart,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n

The post Why Women Should Reconsider a Career in Energy<\/a> appeared first on Schneider Electric Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[12389,12388],"tags":[12424,899,12706,12426,12993,15961,10495,12824,12672,17334,17022,18863,18864],"class_list":["post-12680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scadaics","category-schneider","tag-access-to-energy","tag-climate-change","tag-diversity-and-inclusion","tag-energy-managementenergy-efficiency","tag-energy-regulations","tag-female-engineer","tag-iot","tag-life-schneider-blog","tag-life-at-schneider-electric","tag-women-empowerment","tag-women-engineers","tag-women-in-energy","tag-women-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}