Males dominate top roles in clean energy

Australian women do not want to don lycra and ride a $10,000 bike to get ahead at work, a senior executive says.

Chloe Munro, one of the few women in top jobs in the clean energy sector, says women are disappearing before they make it to senior positions.

The clean energy sector is male-dominated, partly reflecting the technical and engineering focus of most organisations.

Ms Munro has been the "first or the only woman" in most of her roles throughout her diverse career and believes it's simple: women make men uncomfortable because there's fewer of them in the office.

But she says that does not mean women should copy men to appease them.

"You used to have to go and play golf," the Clean Energy Regulator chief executive told women at a clean-energy lunch in Sydney on Thursday.

"Now, you have to don lycra and ride a $10,000 bike.

"But that's not necessarily what we want to do, for all sorts of reasons."

Ms Munro said a new generation of potential industry leaders needed to be recruited.

Meg McDonald, chief operating officer of the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, said women could help themselves by changing their attitudes.

Sometimes you do have to get in the race, she said.

"Don the lycra, get on the bike."

Ms McDonald has benefited from "very strong" male mentors who have helped make her conscious of where she wants to go.

"See yourself at the front of the pack, because if you always see yourself as somewhere down the peloton, you won't make it," she said.

"You've got to get out there and win the stage."