Building on the award nominated event, this year it will be held in time to promote the results of a survey to mark International Women’s Day.
Women in Renewables features an all-female panel of industry experts chaired by event partner Ruth Forbes, Senior Associate at corporate law firm A&L Goodbody (ALG). The panel also includes Zoe Crowe, Head of Renewable Electricity, Department for the Economy, Eimear O’Reilly from Everun and Sam McCloskey, Simply Blue Group.
Judith Rance, Communications and Events Manager at RenewableNI said: ‘Renewable energy events have been dominated by male audience and predominantly all-male speakers. At RenewableNI we have worked hard to ensure are events are at inclusive times, in easy to travel to venues, and aim for a 50% speaker gender balance.
“Women In Renewables flipped the norm last year, and we were delighted to see the distance women travelled to attend – not only across Europe but even a lady all the way from Japan! This year we are expecting over 100 women to book a ticket making it, not only just the second all-female event, but the biggest.
“We are returning to Ten Square as the venue rolled out their red carpet and made everyone feel very special on the day. They helped create and warm and friendly atmosphere making the women feel safe to share their thoughts.”
In addition to the panel discussion, this year there will be an expert in overcoming imposter syndrome as 89 per cent of last year’s attendees said they had been impacted by it.
Ruth Forbes, ALG, said: “If we want to see more women in senior roles, and close the gender pay gap, we need to give women the confidence to apply for jobs. Men will apply if they meet 60 per cent of the criteria while women only apply if they meet 100 per cent. We also need to help overcome barriers to negotiating pay rises – if imposter syndrome makes you doubt your self-worth it is very hard to ask for salary discussion.
“Working with the Gender Index I know less than 7% of energy suppliers and construction companies are female lead. Overall, in Northern Ireland 14.68% of companies are female led. We need to give young girls and women role models to look up to. We need to see more female speakers at events and encourage more women to attend and network. So it is fantastic to be returning to chair my second all-female panel.”
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