From Lone Wolf to Collective Action: Increasing Gender Diversity in the Swedish Energy Sector

ABSTRACT Despite Sweden's consistently high ranking in international gender‐equality indices and a higher‐than‐average percentage of women in leadership roles, women remain a minority in the Swedish energy sector. This article traces how women, positioned as a minoritized group within this male‐dominated field, develop the motivation to collectively challenge systemic inequality. The aim of the study is to examine how individual experiences of isolation and underrepresentation can give rise to new forms of collective action, leading to organized efforts to promote inclusion and diversity. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 12 women in managerial positions and observations from sectoral events, we analyze how professional identity is reshaped through a process akin to a rite of passage. Using concepts from anthropology, feminist theory, and critical organizational studies, we explore how visibility and marginalization are negotiated and how power is reframed as a collective good rather than an individual resource. The findings highlight the transition from individualized strategies to collective action, and the ways in which the women's efforts materialized in organizational practices, public discourse, and sectoral change. This research contributes to organizational studies on diversity and equality efforts in STEM fields in general, and the energy sector in particular, by highlighting the conditions under which critical consciousness and coalition‐building can emerge within masculinized professional contexts.