This March 8th, International Women’s Day, the highlight is Gabriela Rodrigues, who coordinates the work fronts of the transmission lines along almost 1,000 km of extension.
Amid data collected by the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL), in the study “Women in the Electrical Sector”which indicate that the women represent only 20% of the workforce in the sector, corresponding to 66%, while only 5.5% occupy senior leadership positions, Gabriela emerges as an example of leadership in a large project in the sector.
“The vast majority are men and we face this population a lot on a daily basis. But I believe that our work is extremely important precisely to be able to change this prejudice that exists”, says the civil engineer and coordinator from ISA Energiain an interview with CNN Brazilwhen commenting on inequalities in the electricity sector.
Gabriela’s company points out that, between 2020 and 2025, it showed progress in .
Currently, women represent 19% of the company’s total employees and 25% of leadership positions. The goal is to reach 30% in both categories by 2030.
In internship, trainee and apprentice programs, women represented 46% of participants in 2025, with the expectation of reaching 50% in the next four years.
Gabriela explains that, in addition to working in administrative areas, such as substation maintenance electricians, transmission line technicians, field inspectors and construction leaders.
Gabriela’s trajectory helps to illustrate how this transformation has been happening in practice, especially in technical areas and heavy infrastructure, where the challenge is even greater and the environment is still mostly male.
“I believe that this is a panorama that is slowly changing, not only in the energy sector, but also in other sectors of engineering and science as a whole. What happened is that few women entered engineering college, and this is changing. It is a basic work that is being done and, little by little, we are gaining space to also open the way for other women”, she states.
Thus, at the head of a large project in the energy sector, traditionally associated with a male audience, there are women in leadership positions, which reinforces the importance of gender equality not only in executive positions, but also in leadership and technical roles, such as maintenance electricians, field technicians and inspectors.
*Under the supervision of Thiago Félix
