Untapped Reserves

Women constitute a fifth of workers in oil and gas. The industry is second only to construction for its low proportion of female employees. Often, oil and gas companies relegate women to office jobs, rather than to technical or senior executive positions. Only 1% of oil and gas CEOs are women. Men tend to blame the gender gap on women being less flexible, whereas women are more likely to say they receive less support and get skipped over for promotions. The lack of diversity hurts the industry, which already contends with fluctuating oil prices, mass retirement and “game-changing technological advances.” ...