Empowered Women Empower Women: RE International Women’s Day 2023
By: Jessica Perrilliat Smith
EMPOWERMENT: a strong, purposeful, and powerful word…one that is always followed by an impactful, inspiring story to tell. Women in solar are empowerment personified. They continue to break gender stereotypes as well as inequity barriers, and encourage as well as invite other women to join along the way. Their empowerment reflects amplifying women’s self-worth, hearing their own voices, instilling confidence in their abilities, and believing that they too can create change. And the world is reminded that their stories matter, their perspectives matter, their dreams matter!
At Remote Energy, women’s programming is aligned with women’s empowerment, we believe it’s the first step in building a gender-balanced solar industry. Learning from women, training with women, and providing a safe space for women, is our specialty. We globally connect with them, remotely and in-person, with opportunities to become educated in solar and make their mark in the industry.
In celebration of International Women’s Day 2023, we are providing our second annual Women’s Only March Hands-on Technical PV Training in Kenya. Facilitated by professional PV instructors from Remote Energy and Women in Sustainable Energy & Entrepreneurship (WISEe), this training brings together women who have completed and received certificates for our entry level U1: Solar PV Direct Systems, U2: Solar PV DC System Fundamentals course. Knowledge is power, and now that knowledge will be transferred into tangible skills.
Students will learn how to safely examine the electrical characteristics of a PV module with a digital multimeter and experiment with shading, tilt angle and orientation. They will participate in the assembly, wiring, testing and commissioning of a solar powered, DC lighting system.
If you’ve been following us on social media then you’re already aware of how important women’s only courses are…why this is such a necessary avenue for further ensuring their success. The barriers women face in the solar industry are not few or far between. They unfortunately have obstacles to overcome that their male counterparts never have.
Some of what they experience is due to a lack of representation from women in the field, lack of opportunities available, lack of tool experience, lack of equal pay, and lack of workplace policies. You can learn more about that here. Our goal is to alleviate the lack and work towards an abundance for women to not just be, but become.
So, we don’t just celebrate and support women on International Women’s Day but every day, and empowering women is not just something we say, but something we do. We do it for the women who desire careers in solar, the women who are the head of household and need solar energy to thrive, the women who want to educate their communities, and the women who know that when they put their mind to something it will come to fruition.
