Advances in the Participation of Women in the Geothermal Industry of El Salvador

Abstract

The current advances in El Salvador concerning geotermal, range from the development of new fields in high enthalpy, pilot projects of low enthalpy, a Geothermal Center of Excellence that includes a diploma taught annually for Latin America, LaGEO Multilatina which supports other countries starting geothermal development in the region, as well as innovations and improvements during the periods of maintenance of the two existing geothermal power plants; in all these advances the participation of women is vital. The vision of the current administrations of GrupoCEL has allowed more women to work in occupations that were traditionally performed by men, such as the operative work in geothermal power plants; also, through productive projects with direct use of geothermal, many women from the communities surrounding the geotermal power plants have improved their quality of life; In addition, recently the hiring of 70% of women for the VIDA Project has allowed the reforestation of the geothermal fields and has implied social welfare of more families of scarce resources, adding to the contribution to combat climate change; concerning gender equity, the participation of more professional women in the Geothermal Diploma Course is also observed; the incursion of more than 150 women in the WING project (Women In Geothermal) with enthusiasm and motivation; the teaching of workshops aimed exclusively at women workers in the geothermal sector with focus on leadership, equity and advancement of women. All this momentum and energy focused on the issue of gender equity in LaGEO have been supported with actions for the benefit of women workers, such as the creation of an Early Stimulation Center and task club for children, projects for the education of those female workers who have not finished high school and support for geothermal specializations; thus, concerning Gender Equality in the geothermal industry, the road is laid out, the momentum is great and the challenges will require the support of senior management, the awareness of male staff and innovative mechanisms to achieve more progress.