Launched in August 2018, PPA’s Gender Portal aims to provide resources to encourage PPA’s member utilities to increase their employment of women, and to support policies and initiatives focused on broader workforce development. The overall goal is to assist members utilities’ efforts to continue making the workplace more attractive, accessible and welcoming to talented candidates – regardless of gender or background.

This website offers a virtual community to strengthen the network of managers, employees, human resource professionals and CEOs who are committed to gender equality and workforce development in the sector. It provides a virtual learning community for sharing data, best practices, and training and policy resources. Information and new material will be added as the site develops. Please check back regularly for updates!

PPA’s commitment to gender equality originated in data. The benchmarking report released in June 2017 showed that the number of females employed as a proportion of total staffing in the Pacific power utilities has decreased to 21.3% in the 2015 FY, as compared with 23.1% in 2014. In technical positions, there was a marginal increase in the number of female employees in 2015 (increasing from 3% in 2014 to 4% in 2015). The discrepancy in senior staff employment in the region has remained unchanged, with 69.4% male and 30.6% female.

In light of ongoing recruitment, retention and personnel development challenges faced by utilities across the region, these figures suggest a compelling opportunity for improvement.

Workforce male/female role Regional average
Total Staff (male) 78.7%
Total Staff (female) 21.3%
Technical Staff (male) 96%
Technical Staff (female) 4%
Non-Technical Staff (male) 69.4%
Non-Technical Staff (female) 30.6%

 

Non-Technical Female Staff as a Proportionate of Total Staff by Role
Finance 20%
Procurement/Supply 8.5%
Human Resources 10.8%
Public Relations/Customer Service/Communications 31.5%
Administration 16.9%
Other 12.3%