Where are Women of Color in the

Green Economy?Yvonne Yen Liu

Applied Research CenterUnited States Studies Program of the

Woodrow Wilson International Center for ScholarsSeptember 13, 2010

Who is the Applied Research Center?

Goals• Is the green economy inclusive of

women of color?• How do we advance equity in the

green economy?• What are examples of innovative

strategies?

The Promise of the Green Economy

“The world we dream of has more than just a stable, healthy climate. We dream of a society that also takes care of its people, where no one is left behind and everyone has a chance to succeed. That society upholds three basic principles: equal protection for all, equal opportunity for all, and reverence for all creation.” --Van Jones, “The Green-Collar Economy: In Search of Eco-Equity” (2009) in the Compact for Racial Justice, http://www.arc.org/compact/

Graduates of Oakland Green Jobs Corps, June 2009

Green Jobs Gone Gray• Women hold 7% of jobs in renewable energy.

• Women of color comprise only 1% of jobs in renewable energy.

• 5% of the green energy employees are white women.

• Black women are employed in only 1.5% of green energy jobs.

• Latina women comprise 1% of those employed in renewable energy.

• Asian women makeup 0.7%.

ARC’s Green Equity Toolkit

• Equity Principles• Equity Outcomes

–measuring equity

• Equity Handles–enforcing equity

Equity Principles

• Green jobs should include people of color and women

• These green jobs should be good jobs

• People of color and women advance in a green career pathway

Measuring Equity• Was the community involved in defining

green jobs?• Is there race and gender parity in hiring and

awarding contracts?• Do green jobs offer family-sustaining wages

and benefits?• Do green job training programs place people

of color and women into jobs?• Do green jobs create healthy and safe

workplaces and surrounding environments?

Enforcing Equity

Illustration of Equity Handles

•Title 6 and 7 of Civil Rights Act•Best Value Contracting•Participation Goals•Local Hire Agreement

•Best Value Contracting•Professional Development

•Community Workforce Agreement•Family Sufficient Wage•Fair Labor Standards

Innovation in the Green Economy• Participatory process to

define the green economy

• Working with unlikely allies in a strategic coalition

• Create opportunity in disenfranchised communities: worker-owned, green cooperatives

• Scaling up to city or regional-level with community workforce or local hire agreements

Diné youth lobbying Tribal Council for Navajo Green Jobs, Act July 2009

Conclusion• Green economy is not automatically

equitable• Equity needs to be advanced

intentionally and evaluated based on outcomes

• Innovative strategies exist at the community- and local-level

My Questions for You

• How do you target women for green jobs when everyone is out of work?

• How do you encourage women to enter into nontraditional employment?

• How do you leverage existing and new funding (i.e. TANF and WIA) to create green jobs for women?

Further InformationGreen Equity Toolkit & Green Case Studies

www.arc.org/greenjobs Yvonne Yen Liu : yliu@arc.org