Burkina Faso government supported by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the French Development Agency (AFD), is in the process of formulating its long-term (2050) low-carbon development strategy. A technical workshop on gender issues was organized on 16th September 2022 in collaboration with UN Women, to identify opportunities for green jobs for women in the country’s transition to the green economy.
Gender focal points from line ministries and civil society organizations met to identify opportunities to increase quality jobs for women in the different low emissions scenarios across sectors. According to a recent study by UN Women on green jobs for women in Africa, women are well positioned to be employed in agriculture and tourism sectors but the challenge is to increase their participation in higher-value adding, better qualified jobs.
Further according to UN Women, the transition to green economy offers unique opportunities to reduce gender inequalities in the labor market in Africa, including the following:
- Changing perceptions about what are acceptable jobs for women and men;
- Assigning economic value to women’s unpaid work generating environmental benefits.
Action needs to start now on both short-term and long-term strategies to prevent the green transition from being severely biased against women and girls.
Participants discussed recommendations to implement in the next years so that more women can have more opportunities to get a decent green job. In the future, more African women can be employed as bus drivers, solar engineers, and green entrepreneurs in solar energy, agriculture or the circular economy.
Orientation from the workshop will be integrated to the national long-term strategy and linked policy recommendations.