The environmental and clean technology (ECT) sector is growing every year. A recent paper, entitled “Women in the environmental and clean technology sector,” looks at the role women are playing in that sector and their rates of pay.
Environmental and clean technology sector is growing and pays well
The ECT sector plays an important role in the economy, contributing 2.9% (or $73.1 billion) to Canada’s gross domestic product in 2021.
The 314,257 people (1.6% of all jobs) working in ECT accounted for 2.3% of Canada’s total annual exports and 2.8% of imports in 2021.
Wages in the sector exceed the national average, and small- and medium-sized ECT enterprises were more likely than businesses overall to have sales or revenue growth of 10% or more from 2018 to 2020.
Women underrepresented in environmental and clean technology jobs
Women accounted for just over one-quarter (28.6%) of the clean tech workforce in 2021, 2.2 percentage points more than in 2009 but down slightly from the record high of 29.0% recorded in 2020.
Women working in the environmental and clean technology sector are more likely than men to have a postsecondary education
Over two-thirds of the women working in ECT had either a college diploma (25.5%) or a university degree or higher (41.1%) in 2021, compared with less than half of the men, with 20.2% of men holding a college diploma and 24.2% holding a university degree or higher.
However, men in the sector (20.5%) were four times more likely than women (5.1%) to hold a trades certificate.
Women’s underrepresentation in the ECT sector varied by level of education. In 2021, women represented 9.0% of the sector’s workforce with a trades certificate, but they accounted for 33.6% of employees with a college diploma and 40.5% of those with a university degree or higher.
Pay gap between men and women in the environmental and clean technology sector exceeds the national average
Women in the ECT sector earned $44.35 an hour on average in 2021, $8.64 (16.3%) less than what men made ($52.99) and higher than the gender pay gap nationally (12.4%). Nevertheless, the gender pay gap in the sector has fallen from 2009, when it stood at 19.0%.
Most employees in the ECT workforce were full-time employees (83.6% of women; 93.0% of men) in 2021, while women (16.4%) were over twice as likely as men (7.0%) to be employed part time.
The pay gap between men and women in the environmental and clean technology sector varies by level of education
The gender compensation gap in the ECT sector among employees with a high school diploma or less was 10.6% to 13.2% over the 2009-to-2021 period, the smallest gap in pay among all education levels in the sector.
Conversely, the largest gender pay gap was among employees with a trades certificate (30.9%) in 2021.
The gender compensation gap in the ECT sector was 21.2% among employees with a university degree or higher and 27.8% among the workforce with a college diploma.
Women in the environmental and clean technology sector are underrepresented in trade occupations
The underrepresentation of women in the ECT sector is partly related to their under-enrollment in trades certificate programs generally. While over one-third (35.4%) of the jobs in the ECT sector were trades, transport and equipment operators, and related occupations in 2021, women held 7.0% of these jobs.
Conversely, women working in the ECT sector were most likely to work in occupations related to business, finance and administration (70.3%), health (79.8%) or art, culture, recreation and sport (54.9%). Together, these occupations accounted for almost half (48.5%) of all jobs held by women in the ECT sector. However, these three occupations represented just under one-fifth (19.9%) of total employment in the sector.
Women in environmental and clean technology underrepresented in management positions
Women accounted for just over one-quarter (26.6%) of management positions within the ECT sector, 12.6 percentage points below the share of women among all managers in Canada (39.2%).
In 2021, the gender compensation gap in management occupations in the ECT sector was 18.2%, down 7.0 percentage points from 2009 (25.2%).
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For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).