International. The new initiative called the International Network of Women in Refrigeration (INWIC) to promote women's participation, career opportunities and increase their overall participation in the sector, which includes refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps (RACHP), is now official.
INWIC is led by the World Refrigeration Day Secretariat (WRD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) OzonAction in cooperation with a group of highly reputable founding partners, all of whom are active in this area: AIRAH (Australia), AREA (Europe), ASHRAE (Global), CAR (China), FAIAR (Latin America), IIR (Global), IOR (UK), ISHRAE (India), JSRAE (Japan), U-3ARC (Africa) and Women in HVAC&R (North America).
Although women make up half of the world's population, they are significantly and visibly underrepresented in the RACHP sector in all roles. INWIC seeks to reverse that trend. It does so while recognizing that there are many excellent initiatives and structures put in place by different partners that promote women's participation in the field of RACHP. However, more cooperation and information sharing is needed at the global level to link these individual efforts and make them even more meaningful and impactful, especially in developing countries.
There are more than 300 national, regional and international associations, organizations and institutions in the RACHP sector, however, initial research indicates that less than 20 (5%) of these have specific sections for women. The corresponding data indicate that where these women's sections exist, there are a greater number of women actively participating in the committees and structures of these bodies, which in turn increases the opportunities to increase the visibility of women in the sector.
"You can't be what you can't see! There are not enough visible role models of 'women in the cooling'. We want to change that," said Stephen Gill, Head of the WRD Secretariat. "We will create a resource for girls and young women to watch small videos and read real-life stories of a wide range of women in different roles within the refrigeration sector. This will also serve to connect and inspire women currently working in the refrigeration sector."
This initiative contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals: Gender equality for women, including equal opportunities. Improve livelihoods through the creation of jobs and employment. Make cities and people's lives more sustainable. Climate adaptation and mitigation. With regard to the latter, one of INWIC's important roles is to serve as a platform to promote environmental management as part of the refrigeration profession. This includes, among other issues, the proper and safe management of refrigerants such as HFCs, HCFCs, hydrocarbons and new alternatives.
"The refrigeration sector is critical to achieving environmental goals, including the continued success of the Montreal Protocol and to addressing climate change. To meet their compliance obligations, countries need a strong, vibrant and inclusive cooling sector," said James Curlin, director of UNEP OzonAction. "Women represent a huge source of innovation and largely untapped skills for this sector, and they must be actively involved if we are to solve the great environmental challenges of our time. INWIC seeks to do just that."
In the coming months, INWIC's founding partners will introduce several programs that directly support individual women and girls to become more involved and find opportunities that can support their career advancement, attraction to refrigeration educational disciplines, and active engagement with the refrigeration community.
