Female Representation in Oil, Gas on the Rise

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Female Representation in Oil, Gas on the Rise

• Westhill Consulting Employment

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• In reviewing current employment trends within the
  oil and gas industry, more women are indeed
  looking to the oilpatch for technical career
  opportunities and career advancement. This shift
  was highlighted by the majority of energy
  professionals that participated in the inaugural
  Global Diversity and Inclusion Report
• The study, conducted jointly by BP and Rigzone,
  examined female representation in the energy
  workplace from the perspective of 3,000 oil and
  gas professionals.
• While 62 percent of respondents felt the number
  of women working in oil and gas has increased
  globally, 80 percent of oil and gas professionals
  in South America agreed with this statement
  compared to only 52 percent in Europe, the lowest
  proportion from any work region.

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• Respondents based Africa (60 percent) and Asia
  (64 percent) agreed or strongly agreed that women
  have equal opportunities to men for advancement
  to management positions in the oil and gas
  industry compared to 54 percent globally.
• Canada had the highest proportion of respondents
  (78 percent) who said career prospects had
  improved for women, while European-based energy
  professionals had the lowest proportion of
  respondents (35 percent) that believed gender
  discrimination was common in the industry.
• Meanwhile, respondents in the U.S. were more
  positive about the career prospects for women in
  the industry, with 75 percent believing they have
  improved in recent years. A slightly greater
  percentage also agreed that gender diversity has
  improved in recent years.

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ATTRACTING TALENT

• While 72 percent of respondents believe the oil
  and gas business remains male-dominated, the
  majority of energy professionals said it was
  important for the industry to stay attractive to
  women. This is significant, given nine out of 10
  survey respondents were male.
• Attracting the best and brightest talent is one
  of BPs key objectives, and our ability to
  compete and thrive globally depends on that,
  said BPs Cheryl McKinney, vice president
  strategy and commercial business East of Rockies.
  A critical component of this is our hire to
  retire mentality. We invest in our employees
  professional development during all stages of
  their careers.

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• Like one-third of the respondents, McKinney works
  at a large company. She holds a degree in
  chemical engineering and has three decades of
  experience with BP including 20 years of in-plant
  refining experience. For McKinney, working in a
  large company exposed her to diverse backgrounds,
  genders, cultures and experiences. It also
  offered many options as she advanced her career.
• Ive been working in the industry for 30 years
  and for a long time I really was the only woman
  in the meetings. Today the ratio of men to women
  has changed significantly, to the point where
  youre seeing 30 to 50 percent women involved in
  the discussions. Historically the most senior
  roles had a lower representation of females, but
  even thats changing. Today, BP has about 17
  percent women at the executive level.

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• Getting to the executive level is typically a
  case of 50 percent capability and hard work and
  50 percent right place, right time, she said.
• Early on, I found a great combination of
  commercial and technical skills was valued by the
  corporation. So, I had an offering that had
  value, but this by itself wasnt enough. You had
  to have exposure to the decision makers to get to
  the next opportunity. I took on project
  assignments that I found interesting, and these
  gave me that exposure.

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CREATING OPPORTUNITIES

• Respondents cited societal conditioning, a lack
  of qualified candidates and family care
  responsibilities as most significant barriers to
  increasing the number of women in the industry.
  Implementing STEM (science, technology,
  engineering and math) programs in schools,
  offering flexible working arrangements and
  implementing company goals to encourage an
  improved gender balance were cited as the most
  important ways to increase female representation.
  Bangkok Thailand, Jakarta Indonesia amongst many
  others are female friendly. Although obviously
  some Muslim countries, female acceptance is
  difficult. Warning! In these countries keep
  within the law.
• Expectations from our families start at a very
  young age and societys expectations can heavily
  influence your path, said McKinney. Although
  there are many young men and women excelling in
  math and science, the numbers of students going
  into STEM programs are still lagging. Encouraging
  young people to pursue such paths is important,
  and we cant underestimate how that support can
  impact choices.

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• Also, its ok to be a daughter, mom, wife and an
  engineer. Its important that our daughters and
  sons know this.
• In selecting an employer, male and female
  respondents named transparency in remuneration
  structure, flexible working arrangements and
  availability of mentoring and sponsorship
  programs and as the most desired offerings.
• Attracting talent starts with the ability to
  offer a compelling career first the initiatives
  to strengthen company culture can be secondary.
  Companies do need to implement

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• initiatives that will increase the representation
  of women in the oil and gas workforce, but the
  initiatives should also help identify talent and
  promote people throughout the organization.
• Also, while a good sponsor gives employees the
  opportunity to put skills to work, you still have
  to deliver results on those opportunities,
  McKinney said. For junior-level employees,
  mentors tend to play a larger role than sponsors.
  The reverse is true for mid-career professionals
  looking at leadership roles, and multiple
  sponsors can be beneficial in providing different
  perspectives on navigating leadership challenges.

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MOVING FORWARD

• Overall, the industrys progress may be most
  notable in respondents thoughts about the
  future. More than 60 percent said they expect the
  greatest increases in female representation to be
  among professionals just entering the industry
  and those early in their career. Within these
  groups, McKinney expects the desire for career
  stability, personal growth, diversity of
  opportunities and constant challenge will drive
  more women to identify top employers in oil and
  gas.
• Meanwhile, teamwork will be essential to future
  successes on individual and industry levels, and
  that balance is something many women want and the
  oil and gas industry can offer, she added.

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• The positive vibe that you get from the survey
  is really fulfilling. It shows people are willing
  to step up to the challenge and increase
  diversity, and the roles and representation of
  women in industry really are moving the dial.
• Westhill Consulting Career Employment Australia
  website has all the 50 female employees. We hope
  that you find the above blog useful.