Women in the Fusion Workforce: Impact and Future Projections

The fusion industry is a growing and increasingly popular field. It has attracted many leading scientists and engineers who are dedicating their time to advancing fusion research and development. Like many other fields, women are a minority in not just the fusion industry, but the energy workforce as a whole. This presentation will discuss the comparison between women, men, and the U.S. workforce, as well as forecasting the potential that women have to bring to the fusion workforce. Despite increasing attention to diversity, research shows that only 19% of new energy jobs in 2023 were held by women, which directly corresponds to 42,000 jobs out of 250,000 newly added jobs. This is partly due to fusion being seen as a male-dominated field. Often, this leads women to find careers in fusion unattractive. Many factors like this, such as social influence, workplace climate, and the lack of representation, all lead to women being a minority in the fusion workforce.