Gender diversity in the oil and gas industry

Abstract

A woman in every boardroom, secular happy holidays greetings, and Indigenous internships. These strategies are inoffensive and mostly well intentioned, but real change requires disruption. Indirect discrimination is an obstacle to true diversity and can lead to legal complications for employers. It is common for rigid practices or organisational structures to apply equally to everyone, but disproportionately affect one particular group of people. In a global industry that demands movement and flexibility from employees, what are those employees offered in return? In particular, the oil and gas industry must increase its efforts to attract and retain skilled women. The skills shortage is one indicia of a sector that has failed to change with the times. The industry needs to increase female workforce participation by challenging structural barriers, not simply with lip service to critical issues like work-life balance. The conversation should expand to include flexible work, mentorship, networking, offshore opportunities, and changes to recruitment practices. Furthermore, the next generation of women engineers is gearing up, with talent to feed into the industry from the ground level. It is time to get more women in the pipeline. Do law and practice match the rhetoric?