Women in the oil and gas industry

For much of its history, the oil and gas industry has been dominated by men. However, this has been changing as more women have been contributing to the growth of this booming industry around the world.

Forward-thinking companies welcome and recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce as they can draw on more ideas, innovation and contributions. Faced with an increasingly competitive global job market, the oil and gas industry is also opening many doors to women in its effort to access the best talent. The participation of women in the predominantly male oil and gas industry has changed - and continues to change - the landscape of this challenging but rewarding industry.

Challenges that women face

The oil and gas industry has progressed to an almost-level playing field for both male and female employees. However, a woman must be prepared to face certain challenges in her career when adapting to a male-dominated industry.

'Being a woman in the oil and gas industry should not hinder you in any way. The most important factor that should govern your choice of career is your aptitude,' says Neeti Joshi, a reservoir engineer with Shell Technology India. Working with an integrated exploration and production (E&P) company has given Neeti extensive exposure to the industry, a wide range of knowledge and the ability to use multidimensional approaches to resolve issues at work. 'However, when you decide to join the E&P industry, get ready to pack your bags often,' she quips.

Regarding her recruitment, Neeti shares that Shell has a standard recruitment procedure that does not favour male or female applicants. 'Online tests, and telephone and personal interviews are all part of the recruitment process at Shell. They mainly seek CART - meaning capacity, achievements, relationships, and technical skills - in a person. The main abilities that give a positive impact to your employability, apart from good communication skills and sound technical knowledge, are logical reasoning and a well-structured approach to justify yourself in an honest way,' she explains.

For Qamar Wan Noor, a distribution manager at Shell Oman, being the only female executive at Shell Refining Company is not a problem. 'At the refinery, I do what the male employees have to do. I travel extensively and I also work shifts in the control room. When I have to climb a tank, I climb it,' says the Malaysian-born lady, who was trained as a chemical engineer.

Attracting women to the industry

To address any barriers to women's participation, and to attract female talent, many major players in the oil and gas industry are introducing initiatives such as

• diversity-sensitive selection and hiring processes
• training for non-traditional occupations
• gender-awareness training programmes
• childcare facilities within company premises.

'I was able to work from home in my previous assignment to compensate for my time away due to extensive travelling,' Qamar shares. As a working mother, she also feels that her employer has been very supportive of women who breastfeed and need privacy by providing a mother's room on company premises. Another positive initiative for women in her company, according to Qamar, is the Shell Women's Aspiration Network or SWAN, a platform set up by Shell Malaysia for women employees to express their thoughts and ideas on various issues.

Michelle Liang, 25, who is attached to Shell Eastern Petroleum, Singapore, says that a similar initiative, called the Network of Women (NOW), is also present where she works. There, NOW was established with the objective of building and expanding both professional and personal networks within Shell and with external parties through interactive events for both newcomers and existing Shell staff.

Neeti added that her employer provides extensive training to all new recruits, regardless of gender, to build their competitiveness in the industry. 'The main thing is that you should come prepared to learn new things and to adapt to changes,' she says.

Diversity promotes efficiency

Workforce diversity in the oil and gas industry promotes and increases efficiency, competitiveness, innovation, and contribution. Hence, it is essential for women, who make up half of the global workforce, to be attracted into, and be retained in, this industry in order to bring about further growth and development.

Diversity at Shell

Shell firmly believes in embedding diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) within the group businesses. The chief executive for the Shell Group, Jeroen van der Veer, has this to say about diversity and inclusiveness: 'Group diversity and inclusion are vital for winning in today's business environment. They create a competitive edge by helping us to attract and retain the best people, increase creativity, and improve decision-making. Most importantly, diversity and inclusion build trust and strengthen relationships with all of our stakeholders. We need to put D&I at the very heart of our business processes, with greater accountability for results at business, country, and individual levels. By integrating diversity and inclusion into the mainstream of the business, we can translate our core values of honesty, integrity, and respect for people into action, and improve our global performance.'

Within the Shell Group, there is a global gender diversity target to increase the female representation in senior executive positions from the current 10% to 20% by the year 2010. In Malaysia, a female employee network, Shell Women's Aspiration Network (SWAN) has been set up to lead initiatives in supporting the Group's gender-diversity objectives. SWAN has the mission to 'Support and encourage women in Shell Malaysia to achieve their full potential in Shell.'

SWAN drives the following three-point strategy in developing women in Shell:

• Early career development. All young female talents attend a globally developed Shell's Women's Career Development Programme targeted at women in the early stage of their careers. The programme aims to create an awareness of the issues affecting women in the business, and to provide them with the tools to overcome these obstacles to achieve their full potential in Shell
• Coaching and mentoring. Besides individual coaching and mentoring, mentoring circles have been successfully implemented. Small groups of women, each led by a senior female leader, get together a few times a year to share job-related learning and experience, and support each other in gender-related issues that they face at work
• Supportive environment and work-life balance policies to develop and retain talents. In Shell, facilities and flexible working options are provided to allow female talents to meet commitments to family and personal responsibilities without having to give up their careers completely.

Examples of these accommodations include the following:

• childcare support
• mother's rooms
• telecommuting (working away from the office)
• part-time working
• career breaks.

Many of these initiatives are new to the Malaysian workplace and have proven to be a great way to retain female talents and help them progress in mid-career.

© GTI Specialist Publishers. Reproduced with permission.