Ana Gálvez is an engineer, PhD in Energy and Environment, and woman at the forefront committed to gender equality in STEM professions and sustainable development. Promoter of the Spanish Association of Women in Energy, AEMENER.
Ana Gálvez defines herself as a woman committed to building a more sustainable and fairer world. She is convinced that the transition to green energy is a great opportunity to make it possible. She holds a PhD in Energy and Environment from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and has executive education in the EOI and ESADE business schools.
Ana’s long trajectory in the energy sector -where she has worked in consulting, innovation and digital transformation– has always aimed at making energy installations more efficient and sustainable. After a few years in Germany, where she began her career, she returned to Spain and joined the area of innovation and development of the ELCOGAS Technology Group, a company owned by 9 of Europe’s leading electricity and technology companies. The latter built Spain’s first combined cycle plant. She has also worked at Fenosa Ingeniería and Indra and as Director of Digital Transformation in the area of Asset Management at Tecnatom.
In 2017, she founded the Spanish Association of Energy Women (AEMENER) along with other professional women and with the mission to connect and make visible women in the energy sector at the same time that it enhances female talent. They carry out outreach activities in educational centres to bring STEM energy and careers closer to girls and adolescents. They also implement mentoring projects for university students and young professionals.
From the Observatory on the role of women in energy sector companies, AEMENER studies the situation of this sector, key to economic and social development, and makes recommendations to improve it. In 2018, women accounted for 28.5 % of employees in the sector, thanks to a slow but steady growth in recent years. The difference increases to 39 per cent if the presence of women in senior management positions is analysed.
Ana has recently started a project on shared renewable self-consumption for vulnerable people from which we hope to have news very soon. Convinced that mutual support is essential for development, she is also part of Aje &Con (Spanish Association of Executives and Counsellors) and MujeresTech.
Ana Gálvez is a leading woman, committed to equality, sustainability and the ecological transition. Her professionalism, endless “energy” and generosity as an activist are an example to us all. Social and economic progress that guarantees all human beings a healthy and dignified life is not possible without the preservation of the environment, without halting climate change and without achieving true equality between men and women.
Promoter of the Spanish Association of Women in Energy, AEMENER
Soraya Rodríguez, MEP for Ciudadanos and Coordinator of Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in the European Parliament, discussed the presence of women in the energy sector with Ana Gálvez, promoter of the Spanish Association of Energy Women.
One in five architecture or engineering students are women in Spain, where they account for only 31% of researchers; women in scientific and technological jobs are paid 18.7% less than men, according to data from 2020 of the Spanish National Statistical Institute (INE). “These are very worrying data that have to change”, stressed Soraya Rodríguez. For Ana Gálvez, the most worrying aspect is the slowness with which the gap is closing: the presence of women in the energy sector is growing at less than 2% per year.
