The refrigerant sector remains one of the least gender diverse sectors in our economy |30 March 2020
Refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) is crucial for our health, nutrition, comfort and well-being. From prevention of food wastage to preservation of vaccines, from air-conditioning in hospitals to our homes we increasingly rely on the advances that refrigeration has brought us.
The fast-growing RAC sector can offer a wide variety of interesting and fulfilling careers for women as well as men. However, all around the world the sector has always been a largely male-dominated work environment.
Empowering women in the refrigerant sector
Globally, small numbers of women enter the (RAC) refrigeration and air-con sector, many leave because of gender biases, lack of adequate training and opportunities, inadequate policies to attract or retain them.
The (RAC) sector remains one of the least gender-diverse sectors in our economy, despite recent efforts to promote and encourage women's participation. Women face structural and cultural challenges and the lack of women in leadership positions in the cooling sector, make it difficult to recruit and retain female in these industries.
Aiming to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls in the refrigerant sector in a little more than a decade will require a strong commitment from governments, industries and other RAC stakeholders to implement actions. For this reason, private companies, policymakers, and industries need to work together to address these obstacles and overcome barriers to occupied participation and career development. It is important to set measurable targets and adopting policies and programmes to help agree with changes.
There is an urgent need to improve the knowledge of the workforce, skills, and education of women in the activities related to the refrigeration sector, as most women working in these industries nowadays are educators, media, policymakers, law enforcement officers and administrators.
Opportunities for women in the refrigerant sector are in abundance world wide. Seychelles is of no exception. Young women and school girls should take chances to challenge men who have been in control of those industries for a decade. There is an urgent need to improve the knowledge of the workforce, skills, and education of women in the activities related to the refrigerant sector. Given the equal opportunity, equal pay and equal leadership.
Women would not be taking the place of men in such industries but would work together with them for better progress.
Together, we can create a RAC system that delivers for all and enables the just, prosperous and strong economic future that this will bring. Join us and be part of this exciting journey to build cooling systems.
Women hold the upper hand of the family as far as the cooling sector is concern, most of them are the first to open the refrigerant handle in the early morning to prepare breakfast for the family so why not empower themselves in this technical side of the great growing industry known as RAC sector. United, we can create a RAC system that delivers for all and enables the just, prosperous and strong economic future. Join us and be part of this exciting journey in building the cooling systems for the benefits of all.
Contributed