An Analysis about Learning to IncreaseWomen’s Participation and Employment in Europe’s Energy Transition: Evidence from the European Project MEnS

Abstract

The Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD) introduced the requirement for all Member States to include the concept of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) in their national plans. However, this challenge requires upgrading professional skills in NZEB concepts and strategies, thus guaranteeing the maximum impact on NZEB deployment around Europe. This is the objective of MEnS ("Meeting Energy Professional Skills"), an H2020 project focused on providing high quality upskilling and education to architects, engineers, and building professionals. The role of women in the NZEB industry indicates that female participation in the building industry is still low. The need to rebalance this gender gap is highlighted in this work through the identification of female programs and schemes. In addition, the results of women's participation in the MEnS project is analyzed. The MEns project created and implemented a new education program, training 1200 building managers (engineers and architects) in the designand construction of NZEBs, out of which 46% were women. Focusing on the Spanish case, 18 interviews were randomly conducted with women participants in order to assess the courses and their expectations of employment in the NZEB framework. The method used for the analysis was a semi-structured interview and analysis by the grounded theory. This article describes the participation of women in this educational program and analyses initial conclusions and lessons learnt from this initiative in 10 European countries, including Spain.