Introducing the latest perspectives on gender engagement in the workforce with specific focus on clean energy by Ms. Diana Kaissy, Executive Director, The Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative-LOGI at Enabling Women in Sustainable Energy Field: A Step towards Sustainable Communities - Workshop on the side of International Beirut Energy Forum on 25 September 2019.

1. Mitigating Environmental Impact in Non
Renewable Energy: The Role of Women
September 2019

2. “Women are actors and not victims
It is time that they have a better way to engage with
natural resources”
Extracting Equality-Publish What You Pay

3. Global movements’ now focus on gender issues
● PWYP’s gender responsive Chain for Change: Extracting Equality-12 steps
All citizens need to benefit from their natural resources. Therefore, ALL
citizens need to be involved in governing their natural resources.
Step 3 of the chain: Looking at the environmental impacts of extraction:
Has impact assessments been carried out by a team that has equal gender
representation?
Have women been consulted and participated in impact assessments?
Have all community members been informed of the results? Are the
consequences on women fully understood?
● PWYP’s approach to building coalitions: A gender balanced approach

4. Global movements’ now focus on gender issues
● The Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative- EITI and its new gender
requirements:
• MSGs are required to consider gender balance (#1.4).
• EITI reporting should provide em ploym ent figures by project, role and
gender where available (# 6.3).
• MSGs should consider inform ation access challenges by gender and sub-
groups (# 7.1).
• MSGs are encouraged to docum ent efforts to im prove gender equality
and social inclusion (# 7.4).

5. Lebanon: Exploring for Oil and Gas
Who is LOGI? The gender-imbalanced team of five: 4 to
1
LOGI’s first focus was on revision of the Strategic
Environmental Assessment-SEA
Regional workshops to explain the environmental
impact and the need for SEA: Less women participation
in the regions: Inability to commute, attend in the
afternoons

6. LOGI’s focus on technical and vocational
skills for the nonrenewable energy
sector in Lebanon

7. 20 outreach sessions in 2018
LOGI’s 20 outreach sessions on technical and
vocational skills needed to enter the non renewable
energy sector job market:
Eye-opening town hall meetings and school sessions
Less female interest and participation in rural areas

8. Gender diversityintheenergysectorcan:
Based on a study done by the Issam Fares Institute in 2018:
1. Generate more inclusive solutions to energy problems
2. Improve the sector’s reputation of being a “male dominant” field
3. Increase economic growth with both genders benefting from
economic opportunities

9. Interesting facts about Women participation in
Energy Studies in Lebanon
1. New energy majors are established pushed by the development of the renewable
energy market and the emerging oil and gas sector in Lebanon
2. 8 Universities in Lebanon now offer 15 energy related degrees
3. Out of the 540 students enrolled, 68% are enrolled in petroleum and
petrochemical programs, 20% are enrolled in renewable energy, 12% in general
energy
4. There is better participation of women in renewable and general energy than in
nonrenewable energy studies (engineering)
5. The majority of students enrolled in energy studies is found in Beirut and Mount
Lebanon due to the geographic distribution of universities and tertiary education
centers

10. Challenges and obstacles hindering female
participation in energy studies
1. Shortages of energy studies offered in rural areas make it harder for
females to participate since they encounter mobility and cost challenges.
Rural women find it hard to study and live in Beirut.
2. Women have less appetite for the non-renewable energy studies since the
petroleum sector is perceived as unstable, problematic, non-inclusive, and
not transparent.
3. While women’s focus is on renewable studies (with greater female
enrollment), their decreased interest in nonrenewable and technical and
vocational related studies is making them lose future job opportunities in
the developing oil and gas sector in Lebanon

11. So what do we need to do?
1. Develop and implement tailored educational policies that will enhance
female participation (especially in rural areas) in energy studies, especially
at the technical/vocational level. Expanding university presence and
establishing tertiary educational centers in these areas is needed
2. Develop tailored approaches to include women in the governance of their
natural resources: build gender-balanced coalitions, ensure women
representation in multi-stakeholder engagements.
3. Promote gender-sensitive equal opportunity employment in the emerging
energy sector in Lebanon

13. ‫ا‬‫ﺮ‬‫ﺷﻜ‬
@LOGI_Lebanon
@logi_Lebanon
@LOGI_Lebanon @logiLebanon
@Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative (LOGI)
www.logi-Lebanon.org