Women + Power

The Cause

Women+Power is a community developed for women of all levels of experience who are associated with Alberta’s power industry. Women+Power was established to provide opportunities for members to connect with, support, inspire and recognize each other and to empower women to achieve their full potential both professionally and personally.
Women represent just a quarter of Alberta’s power industry workforce. Through the power of community we believe we can work together to address the challenges that result from the under-representation of women and minorities in the power industry. Our goal is to create a community with opportunities for women to connect through mentoring programs and networking events. In addition, we seek to educate women and men on equality and diversity issues by providing educational resources.
The majority of companies operating in the electricity sector in Alberta are represented on our Board: ENMAX, ATCO, TransAlta, Capital Power, Heartland Generation, and ENEL Group.
Women+Power was scheduled to hold its launch event in March at the IPPSA conference which is a well respected conference of approximately 500 delegates. Conference speakers have included the CEOs of Capital Power, TransAlta and ENMAX to name a few as well as and top Government officials including the Minister of Energy. Unfortunately, this event was cancelled less than one week before it was scheduled to occur so Women+Power has been working on ways to meaningfully engage with our members that respects social distancing guidelines. Specifically, we are looking for funding to maintain our website and create virtual programs on our website so we can continue to engage our community during the COVID pandemic. We hope that by early 2021 we will be able to host small in-person events and funding would be allocated accordingly.

Who Will it Benefit?

Individuals engaged in the electricity sector will benefit from Women+Power; specifically women and minorities who work in this sector. Research has shown that diversity in the workforce: (1) Fosters communication and collaboration, (2) Breeds innovation, (3) Improves decision making and (4) Enhances performance and increases profits.
Men associated with the power industry are encouraged to become a part of our community and will be invited to take part in our initiatives as we work towards transformational change.
Instead of a corporate ladder that women feel they must climb alone, Women+Power is a community that will climb mountains together. Through the power of community we believe we can work together to address the challenges that result from the under-representation of women in the power industry so that we can begin to develop opportunities to promote increased diversity and inclusion.
Our aim is to increase the representation of women at all organizational levels. Women who are climbing (or looking for ways to climb) the corporate ladder often feel unsupported. We will identify the issues that women in the power industry face and develop initiatives, programs and resources that women need to succeed in their careers so that together we can start to make a difference.