Women working in the rooftop solar sector

Women account for an estimated 11% of the workforce in the rooftop solar sector in India, significantly less than the global average of women in the renewables sector, at 32%. However, it is higher than the percentage of women in other energy sectors in India, such as coal, oil and gas companies, and electricity utilities.

Women’s participation varies across the value chain of rooftop solar companies. The design and pre-construction phase, and corporate segment – which offer mostly office-based positions – have a relatively high share of female employees at 18% and 34%, respectively. In the area of construction and commissioning, women constitute 3%, and, in operations and maintenance, a mere 1%. Both areas involve frequent site visits or onsite work.

Factors governing the low representation of women include a lack of access to opportunities for women due to safety and security concerns at project sites and misperceptions of women’s capabilities in some roles; insufficient human resource policies beyond legally mandated requirements; societal norms and practices at workplaces that fail to factor in the differentiated needs of women, and consciousness among employees.

Policy makers can increase policies to accelerate the deployment of rooftop solar by addressing general challenges faced by the sector, such as high costs and a lack of appropriate financing. 

They can also create gender‑targeted policies to enable companies to advance towards gender parity and ensure that the sector’s growth will be gender-inclusive by tapping into the large, underutilised pool of India’s highly educated women

The importance of rooftop solar generation to India cannot be overstated. It contributes to energy security, replacing conventional power from the grid and diesel-based back-up generators at the point of consumption. It enhances multiple uses of land, a scarce resource, eliminating the need to engage in the complex process for land acquisition, and, in addition, it usually does not require additional transmission infrastructure.

While pursuing its renewable energy targets, India is also working to realise four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: gender equality; access to affordable clean energy; inclusive and sustainable economic growth; and mitigation of climate change. In order to take stock of India’s progress towards these goals, we chose the rooftop solar sector in India as a case study to assess the impact of a clean energy transition on women’s employment.

Given both the high number and diverse types of jobs that the rooftop solar technology sector generates, it is well positioned to adopt a gender-responsive approach to employment which will attract professionally educated and trained women. For the benefits to accrue, however, deployment, which has been slow, must accelerate.

Given the lack of publicly available gender-disaggregated employment data, we conducted both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with rooftop solar project developers, and with engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies, representing over 40% and about 20% of the market, respectively.

Our findings reveal that women represent on average 11% of the workforce across the companies surveyed. While this is lower than the global average of 32% for women in the renewable sector overall, it is higher than the percentage of women employed in other energy sectors in India – which is less than 10% in coal, oil and gas companies, and electricity utilities.

Women’s participation varies across the value chain of rooftop solar companies. Participation is relatively high in the design and pre-construction phase, and corporate functions (at 18% and 34%, respectively). But women constitute less than 3% in the area of construction and commissioning, and only 1% in operations and maintenance, which involves frequent travel and onsite project work.

Gender ratios also vary across positions. At the top of the corporate hierarchy, only one‑third of the companies surveyed have a female board member. None have more than one woman. Women in senior and mid-level management, in most cases lead a team or department in the support functions in divisions such as human resources, accounting and finance, and institutional relations. It is rare for women to head engineering or sales teams.

The low participation of women in some core business segments and senior management positions is in part a reflection of the low ratio of female applicants for these positions in the core phases requiring civil, mechanical and electrical engineering education or professional experience. While some companies admitted a bias towards women for roles requiring an engineering background, the low application rate is more likely to result from women’s “self-selection” out of these positions rather than a lack of qualifications or skills. Indeed, the share of female students studying engineering and technology in India, a highly appreciated academic background for the rooftop solar sector, is over 30%, one of the highest in the world.

To summarise, factors governing the low representation of women include: 1) a lack of access to opportunities for women due to safety and security concerns at project sites and misperceptions of women’s capabilities in the engineering field; 2) insufficient human resource policies beyond legally mandated requirements at the company and sector level 3) societal norms and practices at workplaces that fail to recognise and factor in the differentiated needs of female employees and 4) consciousness among employees.

We suggest two approaches to policy making. First, policy makers can enhance policies to scale up the rooftop solar market. Policies must address the issues underlying the slow deployment rate, such as the higher costs of procurement and installation of rooftop solar systems given their smaller size and distributed characteristics; and their higher financing costs compared to utility solar. Frameworks to evaluate the credit worthiness of smaller companies and consumers need to be established.

Second, policy makers can design gender‑targeted policies that encourage and enable companies become more gender-inclusive. For example, encouraging investment in facilities that are suitable for women at project sites; setting guidelines for flexible working arrangements; having the public social security system contribute to cover the personnel costs during an employee’s parental leave that is currently covered entirely by employers; and introducing a campaign to increase women’s leadership.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) jointly undertook this study, commissioned by Natural Resources Canada, to explore the potential employment impact on women of enhanced deployment of rooftop solar technology in India, an essential component in the transition to clean energy in this country. The topic of job creation potential for women in the off-grid renewable sector is well documented, particularly in the context of energy access. But few in-depth studies exist on the topic of careers for women in a grid-connected renewable sector such as rooftop solar. We assessed the job opportunities available in this sector for women interested in pursuing career development, with the aim of providing policy makers, companies and investors with a solid analytical basis for making decisions in this new area of research.

India, one of the fastest‑growing economies in the world, has doubled its energy demand since 2000. While demand growth has been largely served to date by the consumption of fossil fuels, India’s government has shown a clear commitment to a clean energy transition for the future. The country’s firm commitment is evident through the renewable electricity target of 175 gigawatts (GW) in installed capacity by 2022 and the various policy measures at central and state government levels that have been put in place to achieve this target. As this target is pursued, India can benefit in a number of ways from this sustainable development, including through access to affordable clean energy, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, and climate change mitigation, which are four of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (goals 7, 5, 8 and 13, respectively).

We chose the rooftop solar sector from among the various clean energy technologies for three reasons.

Firstly, the deployment of rooftop solar is highly labour‑intensive among prevailing renewable technologies with a particularly high share of the high-skilled jobs on which our study focuses. According to Kuldeep et al. 1, rooftop solar creates about 25 jobs per megawatt (MW) installed across the value chain in India, which is 7 to 20 times more than that of utility solar or onshore wind technologies. Of the 25 jobs, about two-thirds, or 16 jobs, are quality jobs that require high- or mid-level skills. The number of quality jobs created rooftop solar is eight times higher than that of utility solar.

Figure 1. Employment coefficient for solar and wind projects in India

Similarly, IEA 2 analysed the job creation potential globally in terms of the number of jobs required to generate 1 terawatt (TWh) a year. It estimated rooftop solar to be among the most labour‑intensive given its small unit size, customised nature of installation, and low capacity factor. While coal-fired generation in India can support more jobs given its labour-intensive coal mining sector, these are mostly for low-skilled miners.

Figure 2. Employment associated with 1 TWh of new power generation by technology

Secondly, the deployment rate of rooftop solar has been slow compared to other renewable subsectors. While 40 GW of the 175 GW targeted is allocated to rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV), less than 4 GW has been installed (Figure 3). The rate of progress is about 9%, compared to 39% for utility scale solar and 58% for wind power. Less than USD 1 billion was invested in rooftop solar generation capacity in 2017 3. This contrasts sharply with the approximately USD 7 billion of annual investment that is needed to 2022 in the IEA Sustainable Development Scenario, which projects the same scale of deployment as the government target 4.

Thus, the rooftop solar sector has the potential to accelerate its growth towards the government’s target in the years to come. Attention must be paid, however, in assuming that the high labour intensity will continue. There is a trade-off between cost evolution and deployment rate, and the labour requirement may need to decrease for deployment at scale. In fact, the slow deployment rate is due to the higher costs of procurement and installation of the systems, given the smaller size and distributed characteristics, and the financing costs which are higher than large projects such as utility solar. Moreover, there is no framework for evaluating the credit worthiness of smaller companies and consumers. All these challenges have resulted in limited financing made available to rooftop solar projects, thus hampering significant progress towards the target.

Yet, with adequate support mechanisms and policies in place, an acceleration of growth in rooftop solar PV is possible. This expansion would impact the types and number of jobs created, which may particularly affect women’s employment prospects.

Figure 3. Actual deployment of renewable technologies and 2022 targets

Thirdly, the rooftop solar sector can create a number of jobs that are categorised as professional jobs such as engineers and business professionals (e.g. financial professionals, accountants and human resources professionals), some of which are attractive to highly qualified women. Tertiary-educated women are more likely to hold these white-collar jobs (occupations which are classified as “professionals” and “technicians and “associate professionals” in the 68th round of the National Sample Survey) than less-educated women, and they offer women a higher wage on average than jobs in other sectors such as in service and sales, and in the craft and trades industries 5 6. However, the increase in white-collar jobs that pull in highly qualified women in the labour market has not kept in pace with the increased supply of these qualified women 7 8. There is an already existing pool of qualified candidates available to fill the high-skill jobs which an expanded rooftop solar sector would create. The rooftop solar sector could leverage this significant pool of qualified Indian women as well as lead more young women to invest in higher education and vocational training.

Overall, the clean energy sector is young. This is especially true of solar and wind. Compared to the conventional energy sector, there is enormous potential to embrace a larger female workforce as the clean energy sector grows. According to responses to our survey, this sector has a positive image as the phrases associated with it – “new and dynamic” and “contributing to the society through clean energy” – illustrate; it is known for offering a “flexible work environment” (see our methodology below). These perceptions, which apply to the rooftop solar sector as well, could be leveraged to enhance hiring and retention of more female employees.

Across the economy, the rate of participation in the labour force of Indian women is 26%. Compared to the labour participation rate of 46% at the global level (Figure 4), this is among the lowest in the world, except for Arab countries. Women account for one-quarter of the country’s workforce compared to the world at almost 40%. Their share falls to below 20% if excluding the agricultural sector, which employs over half of the country’s female workers 9.

Figure 4. Labour participation ratio by gender in selected countries and regions

The energy sector workforce in India is no exception, characterised by an underrepresentation of women. The proportion of women in the rooftop solar sector stands at 11% (which is analysed in detail in the next section). This is higher than in other energy sectors such as coal, oil and gas companies, and electricity utilities where women make up less than 10% of the labour force. However, it is low compared to service sectors such as technology services and financials, where women represent 20-30% of the workforce.

Figure 5. The ratio of female employees in selected sectors in India

Raising women’s labour participation and the quality of their jobs is beneficial for the economy, for women themselves, and for organisations. There are a number of studies that show the positive correlation among the factors of gender diversity of the workforce, the leadership of an organisation, and better financial performance (for example, McKinsey, 2018 10; Catalyst, 2011 11; Credit Suisse, 2018 12). Advancing women’s participation in order to attract and retain a diverse pool of talent is essential to accelerate the transition to clean energy in India 13. Moreover, a better gender balance could provide various benefits to the sector such as enhanced financial performance, informed risk-taking, the adoption of a development and rights perspective, and collaborative processes 14. Given the sector’s growth potential as well as the number and the types of jobs to be created as discussed above, India’s rooftop solar sector is well positioned to receive such benefits.

Ultimately, it contributes to several of the SDGs, including gender equality and inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Studies have shown that closing the gender gap in the workforce can lead to a higher GDP. For example, McKenzie 15 argues that closing the gender gap in the workforce at the rate of its best performing regional peer could drive up the country’s GDP 18% by 2025, compared to a business-as-usual GDP. IMF 16 also estimates that India would be richer by 27% by balancing the gender profile of its workforce. Improving opportunities for a paid job in the labour market contributes to the empowerment of women and enhanced quality of life. The financial autonomy of women leads to better treatment of women and improved intra-household power dynamics, reducing the likelihood of domestic abuse by male family members; increased spending that benefits their children; and an improved standard of living for women and their families 17 18.

We conducted a survey with project developers and EPC companies that are engaged in the rooftop solar business in India, given the lack of publically available gender-disaggregated employment information for the sector. The data collection was undertaken in November and December 2018 through a web-based survey and follow-up qualitative interviews in person or over the telephone with employees. Our primary respondent in most cases was the human resources officer, but in the case of relatively smaller companies that did not have a separate human resources department, we interviewed the founders of the company or members of the senior management. Out of 14 companies contacted, we conducted interviews with 9 companies and received usable survey responses from 8 companies that represent over 40% of the project developers’ market and about 20% of the EPC markets. In addition, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 female employees in senior and mid-management positions to understand their career paths. As a result, the insights provide a valuable indicator of the state of women’s employment in the rooftop solar business but may not represent every case or situation.

The scope of the survey included the following five segments: 1) business development phase, 2) design and pre-construction phase, 3) construction and commissioning phase, 4) operation and maintenance phase, and 5) support functions.

The survey and interviews covered three broad topics:

• Gender profile of the workforce (discussed in Section 2)
• Gender profile of the workforce in rooftop solar companies by segment
  
  Gender profile by position
• Gender profile of job applicants
• Barriers and challenges for increased participation of women in the sector (Section 3)
• Existing measures and policies to support women’s career in the sector and increase their participation (Section 3)
• Recommendations to complement the existing support measures and policies to encourage women to join the sector’s work force (Section 4)

Our survey reveals that women account for on average 11% of the total employees in the rooftop solar business of surveyed companies. This is low compared to the nationwide women’s share in the workforce at 24% (19%, excluding agriculture) and far from gender parity (i.e. having an equal proportion of men and women). However, the representation of female employees varies across the value chain of a rooftop solar project. The design and pre-construction phase (18%) and support functions (34%) have a relatively higher number of female employees. In contrast, women employees constitute 12% of the business development phase, but as low as 3% of the construction and commissioning phase and 1% in the operation and maintenance phase.

Figure 6. The share of female employees in India’s rooftop solar sector by segment

There are notable distinctions between the segments that attract female employees and those that do not. Office-based jobs without frequent travel or work at project sites are perceived to be more appealing to women. Companies find it relatively easy to assign women to these positions.

Among the core business segments, jobs in the project design and pre-construction phases are tied to a specific project, but they do not require frequent travel to the project site. Employees design and manage projects mainly from corporate offices; in some cases, they are allowed to perform these tasks from home. Among the respondents, one company responded that as many as 12 out of 20 employees on its project design team within the design and pre-construction phase are women, and three companies specified that there was at least one female employee engaged in procurement. These female employees, most of whom hold an engineering degree and/or an MBA degree with relevant work experience, are as qualified as their male counterparts.

Support functions of the corporate segment, such as human resources, finance and accounting, legal and compliance, and public relations, are also office-based roles requiring a high level of expertise. Several companies stated that there are female employees with an engineering degree who have chosen to work in corporate roles. This “self-selection” may be based on societal misperceptions of women’s abilities, socially ascribed gender roles, and women’s accumulated workplace experiences (see Section 3, “Access to opportunities for women”).

In contrast, there are few women in roles requiring frequent travel to project sites to deal with clients and contractors. The lack of women in roles requiring a presence at project sites is feature that is represented in most core business segments, namely, the business development phase, in construction and commissioning, and in operation and maintenance. The construction and commissioning, and the operation and maintenance phases, have even fewer female workers. Half of the surveyed companies reported no female employees in either of the phases at all. Factors which discourage women from taking these roles include safety concerns and general perceptions that onsite work is male-dominated (see “Access to opportunities for women” in Section 3).

Gender ratios also vary across positions. At the top of the corporate hierarchy, only one‑third of the companies surveyed have a female board member. None have more than one woman. The remaining companies have executive boards made up of men only. Women represent 12% of senior management and 17% of mid-level management.

In most cases, female managers lead a team or department in the support functions and in the design and pre-construction segment. There are cases where women head an engineering team or a sales team, but it is rare. The lower ratio of women in higher management could mean that many women leave the workforce while in the middle of the corporate ladder. Some female employees indicated that mid-level managers are in their 30s on average and go through major life transitions such as marriage and childbirth. The difficulty of balancing work and family responsibilities often leads them to take a pause or to end to their career. The tendency is stark in India where the burden of managing household chores and childcare responsibilities falls disproportionately on women, although some professional women with a higher income are able to afford paid care services to balance these responsibilities (see Section 3 and Box 2).

At the same time, it is worth noting that half of the companies surveyed reported that female staff account for a higher ratio in the senior and mid-level management than in the entire company. This is largely because the women’s ratio in the entire company is pushed down by the male-dominated areas of construction and commissioning, and operation and maintenance, which together represent on average 40% of the workforce. Another possible factor is that almost all female managerial staff joined the rooftop solar sector as experienced professionals rather than in junior or entry-level positions, as our follow-up interviews revealed. While we note that this higher ratio is partly due to the particular functions in the corporate segment with a relatively high presence of women; we are also aware that the positive perceptions of rooftop solar as a new and meaningful sector with an open and flexible work culture may have attracted female managers.

Figure 7. The share of female employees in India’s rooftop solar sector by position

Because the share of female applicants by type of jobs and position varies significantly across companies, it is difficult to draw significant conclusions at the sector level. However, the general observation is that the number of female applicants remains low for positions in the core phases requiring civil, mechanical and electrical engineering education or professional experience. One explanation is that women tend to self-select themselves out of these positions because of the job requirements or because there is a bias at the sector level against hiring women for such positions.

Our survey asked companies to select the range of female applicants’ proportion by type of position in order to illustrate the recruiting trend over the last 2-3 years. The choices given were 0%, less than 5%, 5‑10%, 10‑25%, 25‑50%, and over 50%. Two-thirds of the companies responded that women applicants represent 10‑25% of entry-level job positions. For board member positions, companies’ responses are either no job openings or that there are very few female applicants (0% or 5‑10%). For the other positions, although the range of answers varies widely, there are generally more women applying for support functions and fewer women for technical positions in core business segments and management positions within a company.

A couple of companies commented that in general (i.e. not limited to the rooftop solar sector), a male candidate would be more likely to be offered a job unless a competing female candidate is significantly better than him. On the other hand, most companies indicated that their female applicants and employees are not inferior to men when it comes to skills. In fact, 30% of students enrolled or graduated in technical and engineering programmes at Indian universities are women, among the highest in the world 19; 20.

Despite this, qualified Indian women are unlikely to pursue careers as engineers in physical infrastructure industries. The male to female ratio is four times higher in core industries such as the construction, machinery, and manufacturing sectors where they work as civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers, in comparison to the IT or software industry where they work as system engineers or in related engineering roles (see Box 1 21). The low participation of women for certain technical roles in the rooftop solar sector may be ascribed to traditional societal values and gendered norms that misperceive women’s competencies in the engineering field and which lead women to self-select themselves out of the engineering field as well as discourage companies from hiring women.

Figure 8. The share of female graduates in engineering in selected countries

The emerging and non-traditional nature of clean energy technologies like rooftop solar presents the sector with an opportunity to adopt a gender-responsive approach. The low level of participation of women in the rooftop solar workforce underscores the importance of understanding the barriers that women face in this sector. With tremendous growth potential, the rooftop solar sector is at an opportune stage to focus on increasing women’s representation in the workforce.

In this section, we analyse the existing barriers to and support available for women in solar rooftop companies across India that have become clear through our survey and interviews. We assess the barriers at individual, company, and societal levels, as well as the existing formal and informal support arrangements for women. The four dimensions include 1) access to opportunities for women, 2) formal policies and procedures, 3) norms and practices at workplaces derived from the social structures, and 4) the individual consciousness of female and male employees. These dimensions are adapted from the “Gender at Work” framework, which has been widely used to identify opportunities and barriers to gender equality, evaluate progress, and build a strategy at the work place 27 (Figure 9).

Figure 9. Four dimensions of issues identified in our analysis

The four issues we discuss in-depth in this section are listed below. They are linked to certain features of the rooftop solar sector, such as the fact that it is a relatively young industry and that it involves jobs traditionally held by men (such as onsite construction work) in its value chain. While other sectors share some of these elements, addressing these issues will help the rooftop solar sector maximise women’s talent and, in doing so, fuel its growth.

1. Access to opportunities for women: The perception of a lack of safety and security at rooftop solar project sites can discourage women from undertaking work in male-dominated positions such as engineers and project managers. This concern is also observed in relation to site-based jobs in other sectors. Some companies actively take supportive steps to encourage female employees to take up these jobs. Supportive measures include providing appropriate accommodation and sanitation facilities, transportation, and careful planning, but companies in general are still in the process of developing the capacity to accommodate female employees’ needs.
2. Formal policies and procedures: Support beyond legally required policies needs to be formalised to attract and retain female employees. All companies in this sector, as in others, have human resources policies required by the government such as paid maternity leave and prevention of sexual harassment at workplace. However, few companies have yet to take the initiative to go beyond that, given that this sector is in an early stage of development.
3. Norms and practices at workplaces: Traditional societal values and gendered norms as they prevail in Indian society in general can affect rooftop solar companies and their employees. In the rooftop solar sector, further supportive policies in long-term human resource planning are needed to allow both men and women to challenge the expectations of the traditional gender roles.
4. Individual consciousness among employees:The consciousness and personal experiences of men and women, such as their respective level of knowledge regarding equality and women’s rights, attitudinal bias towards women’s rights, and actions taken to protect these rights,are potent forces that shape gender equality within a company and the sector. Awareness varies across individuals, but some companies have seen a change for the better in the gender-biased perceptions of employees through active interactions with female employees and employees with different cultural backgrounds.

Table1. Issue 1: Access to opportunities for women in the rooftop solar sector

As discussed in Section 2, the share of women overall in the rooftop solar sector is 11%. However, the number of women working in the core engineering functions is far lower than the number of women working in support functions in the corporate segment. A significant factor accounting for this disparity is that job roles in the core phases often require extensive travelling to project sites for industrial clientele located in remote and rural areas, which poses challenges for women.

Employers do not always consider it appropriate to send female employees to potentially risky locations. The issue of perceived safety at project sites in distant locations (especially for industrial customers) is related to the threat of sexual harassment or assault from strangers or male co-workers, as well as to certain safety risks associated with physically intensive onsite work. In addition, the employers’ hesitation may also result in part from “protective legislation” in India that, historically, has limited the employment of women workers by placing restrictions on women working during the night and on the type of operations in which women can engage 8. For example, such legislation requires companies to provide safety measures such as transportation for women working after 19:00 in the evening at project sites. The need to provide additional facilities suitable for women at project sites may be seen as a financial burden by the companies.

These generalised anxieties about women’s safety at site locations often keep women out of many roles. Some female interviewees highlighted the challenge of exercising supervisory authority among contractors and vendors onsite in addition to a bias among some clients to hosting women at their sites.

In fact, many female employees themselves often prefer not to stay for extended periods at project sites in remote locations. Moreover, an employer’s hesitancy to deal with the challenge may also reflect the likelihood that women will self-select out of these positions by not even applying; thus, employers do not anticipate the need to address the challenges facing women working at remote locations. This opting out of certain roles by women may reflect women’s self-perception of incompetence in technical occupations in the sector, and more broadly in the engineering field 28. Companies, too, are often of the opinion that jobs requiring significant travel and time away from home may be challenging specifically for women, who are traditionally seen as the primary caregivers for children.

However, almost all women say that site visits are important for career growth. Understanding the execution of projects helps professionals to design better systems, gain more authority and perspective in conversations, and guide their team on the subject. Given that site visits are integral to most core phases in the rooftop solar sector, the inability to travel means that women lose out on opportunities to advance their careers.

Even though the safety of women is considered a barrier, some companies have facilitated site visits for women to learn and integrate their knowledge into the design and operations of projects. Supportive measures by the companies such as providing safe accommodation and transportation during late hours and having male colleagues accompany women to project sites have increased women’s participation in project management (at least in certain phases such as pre-construction and design). Although these practices have emerged in a few companies, given the early stage of the industry many others lack the resources to provide a work environment at project sites that is suitable for women. As the sector evolves, and more women participate, we foresee an increasing investment in human resources, based on the commitment of some forward-thinking companies to implement changes.

As discussed in Section 2, the proportion of women decreases as we move up the corporate ladder in most companies. Since prior work experience and existing skills are prerequisites for senior positions, low numbers of women in entry-level positions leads to skewed representation at the levels of mid- and senior management. As individuals, female employees in leadership roles are in a position to positively influence female colleagues. Women in the workforce, especially those in core functions traditionally held by men, tend to act as mentors and role models for other women who are interested in joining the sector. Their support is an important component of the career development of junior colleagues. Overall, a higher level of participation of women in the rooftop solar sector has the potential to facilitate the transition of women to leadership positions.

Table 2. Issue 2: Formal policies and procedures in the rooftop solar sector

All companies in the rooftop solar sector have human resource policies mandated by the government, including six months of maternity leave and the prevention of sexual harassment at workplace. Most companies also provide an average of seven days of paternity leave, which is lower than that offered in other countries that value gender parity and the father’s participation in parenting. However, few companies have taken the initiative to go beyond the mandate and provide greater support. This is partly because the sector is in the early stages of development, and most companies are relatively small with no capacity to extend support, unlike larger and older companies in other sectors. The lack of support beyond legally mandated policies can be an additional hurdle that discourages women from joining and remaining in this sector.

The causes of the persistent gender gap in pay are multifaceted. They include women’s greater concentration in lower-paying jobs and junior positions, in absolute terms, their comparatively weaker negotiating abilities, and the greater likelihood that they will take time off from their careers for parenting and caregiving. In addition, there are the attitudes and values of employers to consider. Like many other sectors in India, most companies in the rooftop solar sector have no policy in place to ensure equal pay for equal work. Often, policies that offer similar benefits to men and women do not ensure equity because of the pre-existing inequality of opportunities. Almost all the surveyed companies stated that they do not discriminate by gender regarding compensation, which implies they follow a salary structure where wages are based on educational qualifications, work experience, previous salary, and negotiation skills. But if there are no policies in place to ensure equality of pay for particular roles, then a company’s assessment of how much to compensate a candidate financially will be subjective and variable. This leads to a prominent gender pay gap since women employees are more likely to take breaks in their career after childbirth and because of childcare obligations. Fortunately, some companies have introduced pay brackets that are not linked to an employee’s prior compensation to help job seekers transition between sectors, a move that has the potential to reduce the pay gap among employees in general.

Some female interviewees highlighted the importance for a woman’s career of support during the initial years after childbirth. Companies could better embrace childcare support in their human resource policies for new parents in their increasing workforce. Almost no company has identified theneed for childcare facilities located within organisations, owing primarily to the lack of women and nursing mothers in the sector and a pre-existing perception that childcare needs do not apply to men. Fewer women translates to lesser expressed need for childcare facilities at work. A few companies have contracted with external childcare services to provide facilities near the workplace to employees. In addition, we also noted supportive measures such as longer lunch breaks for young mothers to spend some time with the child during the day, which some companies offer.

Many companies speak of the intent to recruit more women to create a diverse workforce. However, their recruitment policies do not demonstrate affirmative action taken in the recruitment of women or include a gender diversity clause in their vacancy announcements. Some companies mentioned that recent capital injections from private equity firms has resulted in a mandate to ensure a greater gender balance and has led to setting up of internal goals for doing so. This highlights the value of adopting gender equality targets and policies at higher institutional levels. Even if, initially, companies that adopt such measures are motivated primarily by the need to comply in order to satisfy international funder or donor requirements, the outcomes will be positive. And, as the gender composition of the workforce changes, companies’ values too may shift in more progressive directions.

Table 3. Issue 3: Norms and practices at workplace of the rooftop solar sector

Lack of long-term human resource strategies at the company level can be another barrier to women’s participation in the sector. From a short-term perspective, hiring a woman is often associated with higher costs than hiring a man; the positive impact that gender diversity can have on decision making in business operations and financial performance over the longer term is not widely recognised.

Across the industry, many female employees view maternity leave as a setback to their career. They also think the possibility of maternity leave makes companies hesitant about hiring a woman because companies have to cover her salary and the cost of a temporary replacement during maternity leave. This is partly because of the pre-existing social norms that assume women are the primary caregivers of children and partly because the rooftop solar sector is currently a rapidly changing industry with small teams in organisations. Usually there are not many people working in the same role on a team, which makes it difficult for young organisations to find appropriate replacements quickly when employees go on extended leaves. This is especially the case with project management teams in the pre-construction and design phase whose timely operations are crucial for the company’s performance.

A number of rooftop solar companies have a work culture that allows employees to work flexible hours as well as from home. These policies make it easier for both genders to balance personal and professional lives. Many forms of the support that women require during their transition phase do not have an economic cost for companies. For instance, some companies allow female employees to take a longer lunch time in order to attend to their children in the nearby crèche. It may not be a written policy but an informal arrangement that is very much part of the work culture has helped many young mothers. Similarly, both male and female employees benefit from flexible yet fixed work hour formats. Cultural norms around parenting, as well as economic reasons, have prevented companies from providing childcare support unless there are enough “women” in the organisation – as compared to enough “parents” – which has had an impact on the few mothers who are balancing parental responsibilities along with highly demanding jobs.

Family obligations pose a greater difficulty for women while transitioning from early career to mid-level or senior level positions. Rather than losing out on valuable female employees, some companies recognise the value of retaining them by offering the flexibility to work remotely for long periods when they have to move cities. This support from senior management has helped many women balance their family obligations and professional growth. Another company has an internal referral programme to facilitate recruitment of women in which an employee receives a higher reward if he or she refers a woman candidate who is hired. Initiatives like a women-led forum within the company have helped female employees express their challenges and concerns directly with the senior management.

While a number of rooftop solar companies provide greater support in the form of work culture, formal human resource policies institutionalise such efforts. At the same time, these policies need to be evaluated in practice to assess whether they actually deliver on the intended benefits.

Table 4. Issue 4: Individual consciousness among employees in the rooftop solar