NAPENews Magazine August 2021 Edition

workforce. Women hold less than 17% of
executive jobs in oil and gas and just 1% are
CEOs.
The situation is starker in technical
operating functions, such as manufacturing,
engineering, or research. PESA data shows
women make up 9% of the global workforce
and 8% of the U.S. workforce but they make
up less than 7% of the highest-ranking
executives.
Oil and Gas Industry stakeholders are
kinder than those of manufacturing,
engineering, and research companies.
But as shareholders exert pressure on oil
and gas companies to embrace women
across all levels of employment, leadership
numbers are improving.
As a contrast, The PESA study found
companies with at least 30% female leaders
end up raking in 6% higher net margins, and
companies with a higher percentage of
women in executive positions have a 34%
higher total return to shareholders than
those that do not. Let's not assume the
shareholders are about profit (there must be
something more than that, but even if they
were, isn't that good returns for their
advocacy?
So why the clamour for females' inclusion
and what are the challenges? Is there
sexism in the Oil and Gas Industry? These
are questions we all seek answers to.
Let me take you on a memory lane, while I
was in school in the very early 2000, in my
class, it was a ratio of one female to ten
males, we were twelve girls in the class of
about a hundred in total, now five of the girls
are in the oil and gas, academia and
industry.
So, what truly is the role of females in the oil
and gas industry. What value do we bring to
this workforce?
Ÿ Diversity of Thoughts, not gender:
At present, with the abysmally low ratio of
women to men and correspondingly proven
contribution, now you can only imagine the
industry success if we can have equal
proportions in the workplace.
A more diverse and inclusive workforce
should be a strategic agenda for
organisations in the oil and gas industry.
Women bring feminine (result driven)
leadership skillset and behaviours. It isn't
about diversity of gender. A more balanced
team makes better decisions.
It is no longer the case that the Oil and Gas
or Energy industry is a man's world. In fact,
the world and I mean the people in it, while
they enjoy the finished product of our
industry, most of them cannot comprehend
what our industry is about.
With the lingering miscommunication with
other stakeholders and misconception
about the pollution our industry generates, I
think we are better off educating the
populace regardless of their gender and
opening our minds for better “womanly”
ideas. Remember, the woman speaks the
language of both genders.
And if I may ask you to look around you, and
look at the faces of your smart and
intelligent colleagues and friends, are you
looking at them through the gender or
intelligence prism?
The Oil and Gas Industry must make hay to
not miss out on the innovative contributions
a more diverse team brings to solving
industry challenges.
Ÿ The creative integration of Work, Life
and Family Expressions:
These three elements are not mutually
exclusive, and there is no better gender who
expresses these more than the female.
While it is still considered from a stereotypic
perspective, the current decline in mental
health and stability has shown us that these
things must be present in a person to live a
fulfilling life.
Imagine the burden of working so hard and
losing self or enjoying family to lose out on
work. Having female in the workplace, while
not a guarantee for 100% result, assures us
that there is a place for improvement, and
being a female gives that leverage and
that's what the workplace needs.
With more female choosing to study STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics) subjects, we are gradually
seeing a natural pathway into the industry
with (let me be optimistic here, a better
health,stability, and growth potential).
Looking to the future, the industry needs
more women to help it achieve greater
parity and the progress begins with the
simple things, of allowing females to thrive.
Ÿ To diffuse the ideology of STEM as
an anomaly:
STEM subjects are not an anomaly, neither
are they difficult, even though we have been
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