The offshore wind industry is booming as the world wakes up to clean energy. But there's still a big gap that needs closing: gender representation. Industry reports reveal that women make up just 5% of wind energy's offshore roles and are only 21% of our industry's overall workforce, a workforce in which approximately 86% of technical roles are held by men.

There's no excuse for keeping women behind the scenes or out of engineering roles but, even with targets like the UK's Offshore Wind Sector Deal pushing for 33% female representation by 2030, progress remains slow. At SLPE, we believe real innovation only happens when everyone's invited to the table. That's why we're committed to creating a more inclusive industry, and it starts in-house.

How SLPE's helping to shift the balance

We're not just talking about change we're building it into everything we do. At SLPE, we're creating a work environment where women can thrive, lead and feel seen through initiatives such as:

• Inspiring young women into STEM: We're working with universities and industry partners to show young women what's possible. Our Managing Director has spoken at Cambridge University, and our recruitment team regularly connects with students through university careers programmes at Bristol and Loughborough.
• Inclusive hiring practices: We regularly review how we hire, making sure our job adverts, interviews and selection processes are free from bias and accessible to everyone.
• Supporting career growth: Every team member gets a training budget, and we back further studies such as Master's degrees. Our goal? To help more women step confidently into leadership.
• Industry-wide advocacy: We've teamed up with initiatives like Wind4Kids to reach school-age girls early, showing them that engineering and offshore wind are real career options for people like them.
• Family-friendly benefits: From enhanced parental and carer's leave to paid time off for neonatal care, we're making sure our people feel supported in and out of work. We also offer a one-month remote working policy twice a year that can help all parents who need to work from home during school holidays, in addition to hybrid working practices.

Why it matters

Offshore wind isn't just about engineering: it's about solving big, complex problems with creativity and collaboration. And research shows that diverse teams perform better. They think differently, solve problems faster, and bring more ideas to the table.

If we want to hit net-zero targets and design the future of energy, we need everyone's input and that includes making space for more women in our industry. It's also just the right thing to do.

The road ahead

Change takes time, but we're seeing progress and are proud to be leading the way. By creating accessible opportunities and building an inclusive culture, we're helping shape a future where women in offshore wind are no longer the exception, but the norm.