This study applies a gender lens to job creation in the green transition. It assesses opportunities for women’s participation in green jobs in key sectors driving growth in African economies, explores obstacles limiting women’s access to those jobs, and identifies ways to overcome these obstacles and promote job opportunities for women.
Starting from the assumption that all jobs can be women’s jobs, it assesses green-job opportunities for women by identifying those sectors likely to offer the most green-job opportunities and examines what could be the mix of high-end and low-end new green jobs created. Then, it uses women’s current labour participation in these sectors to predict which sectors will offer “quick wins” – relatively rapid access to green jobs – or “slow wins”, requiring long-term strategies to remove legal barriers and change social norms.
Quick wins can be considered those achievable by 2030, the time frame of the Sustainable Development Goals, while slow wins might take place by 2063, the time frame of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.