Diversity insight | Powerful Women

Current state of gender diversity

The most recent report from the FTSE Women Leaders Review (published in February 2026), hows that women’s representation on FTSE 350 Boards remains at 43%, maintaining the progress achieved in the previous year and continuing to exceed the 40% target.

The representation of women in leadership roles (executive committees and their direct reports) has increased to 36%, demonstrating continued progress while highlighting the need for further action to improve gender balance in senior executive positions.

Progress across the four key roles (Chair, CEO, CFO and SID) has been mixed. Women’s representation among Senior Independent Directors remains strong, while progress in executive roles, particularly CEO positions, continues to be an area requiring greater focus.

The report highlights that while progress at Board level is encouraging, there is still more to do to improve representation across executive leadership and strengthen the pipeline of women moving into the most senior roles.

For the energy sector, continued focus is needed to accelerate progress and ensure women are represented throughout leadership structures. While progress across the FTSE is positive, the findings reinforce the importance of sustained action to achieve lasting gender balance.

'Energy +' sectors at all levels:

Data from the Energy & Utility Skills Partnership shows that in 2024 women constitute 28% of the energy and utility workforce across all levels (note that this is for all utilities, including water for example).

Official statistics from the UK’s Office of National Statistics in 2023 shows that women make up 29% of the workforce in the UK’s ‘electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning’ industrial sector. In Q1 of 2025, there were 142,000 women over 16 working in the UK energy sector, according to the ONS Labour Force Survey May 2025.

Energy sector (global):

Globally, female representation in the energy industry and its sub-sectors is monitored by a number of organisations and reports:

The International Energy Agency (IEA) tracks gender in the global energy sector as a whole. Despite making up 39% of the global labour force women only account for 16% of the traditional energy sector. On average, “there are 76% fewer women than men working in the energy sector, a significant difference from the average 8% gap seen in the total workforce, according to 2018 data from 29 countries (22 IEA members)”. Find out more here.

Oil & Gas: ‘Untapped Reserves 3.0’ by Boston Consulting Group and WPC Energy is the latest edition of research that has tracked the number of women working in oil and gas for the past seven years. The 2023 report shows that women make up 23% of the global oil and gas workforce, up very slightly from 22% in 2021. Find out more here.

Renewables: ‘Renewable Energy: A Gender Perspective’ by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) showed that in 2019 32% of the renewable energy workforce were women. A later study focussing on just wind energy, found that women make up just 21% of that sector’s workforce. The most recent study in 2022 looked at the solar PV sector and found that the share of women working full time is 40%. Find out more here.

Nuclear: ‘Gender Balance in the Nuclear Sector’ by the Nuclear Energy Agency reported in 2023 that women make up only 24.9% of the nuclear sector workforce in NEA countries. Find out more here.

UK energy sector only:

Our latest Annual State of the Nation report (June 2026) examines female representation across board, leadership and middle management levels in the UK energy sector.

The findings show that, while progress has been made in some areas, the sector remains at a critical crossroads on gender balance. Female representation at board level has edged up to 31%, but this small increase masks deeper challenges around retention, progression and the pipeline of future female leaders.

The report highlights:

* 31% of board roles are held by women, a small increase from previous years
* 22 boards removed at least one woman from their board in the last 12 months, compared with 5 the previous year
* 13 companies now have all-male boards, up from 12
* 36% of leadership roles are held by women, increasing from 34% in the previous year
* 34% of middle management roles are held by women, unchanged for the second consecutive year
* Women remain significantly under-represented in senior executive roles, with CFO and COO representation declining

The findings highlight that, while progress is being made in some areas, the sector is currently off track to achieve POWERful Women’s target of 40% women in UK energy management and leadership roles by 2030.

Continued action is needed to improve progression pathways, retain female talent and ensure the energy sector can access the diverse skills and leadership required to deliver the energy transition.