Statistics mark 2014 International Women's Day

A major survey into employment in the Scottish renewable energy sector has found more than a quarter of employees are women, which is a larger proportion than in the oil and gas or nuclear sectors.

The findings suggest 28% of the renewable energy industry's workforce are female, compared to UK oil and gas which has 21% and nuclear with 18%.

Jenny Hogan, Director of Policy for Scottish Renewables, which commissioned the survey, said: "These findings would seem to suggest that renewable energy is attracting more women than other more established energy sectors.

"Having 28% of women working in renewables in Scotland is a good starting point for what we hope to be an increasing figure as the industry expands into emerging sectors such as wave, tidal and offshore wind.

"It's clear that more work needs to be done to improve on this but we're confident that existing projects, such as Scottish Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology at Napier University, and new networks, such as Women in Renewable Energy Scotland (WiRES), will go some way in doing just that."

According to the Warwick Institute for Employment Research there is an under-representation of women in oil and gas with 21% of its workforce female and in the nuclear power industry too which has an even lower proportion at 18%. And just 8% of UK professional engineers are women.

Jenny added: "It seems fitting that we highlight these figures in the approach to International Women's Day this weekend (Saturday 8 March) which this year carries the theme ‘inspiring change'. The renewable energy industry in Scotland is growing all the time and we hope that, as careers continue to open up in areas such as engineering, project management and environmental research, more women will choose to work in renewables and we can lead the way in terms of being a sector which both promotes and reflects gender equality in the workplace."

Scottish Renewables commissioned independent researchers to survey more than 540 companies in what is the most comprehensive study to date. The findings suggest 11,695 people are currently in full-time employment, an increase of 5% from the previous year's study.