The UK oil and gas sector should be recruiting more women in to the industry and can use the law to boost female representation, claims a leading offshore employment expert.
Katie Williams argues that despite the economic downturn and the price of crude oil sitting at less than $50 a barrel, now is the time that oil majors and contractors should be addressing the gender imbalance.
The proportion of women in the UK oil and gas industry is reported to be 23% compared to a 47% national average, which worsens when narrowed to offshore staff with only 3.6% represented.
Ms Williams, an Aberdeen-based partner in legal firm Pinsent Masons, said that aside from moral and social arguments in ensuring equal opportunities, there was a strong business case for increasing the number of women working offshore.
She said: “Against this backdrop of a low oil price and announcements of job cuts it may seem strange to be advocating that employers should be attracting and retaining more women in to the industry, but I believe they should be using the law as leverage to do just that.”
Williams points to research which shows increased female representation can bring a range of benefits such as access to a larger talent pool, better financial performance, increased productivity, being more responsive to the market and stronger corporate governance.
She added: “In the North Sea, the focus is now on realigning organisations to create sustainable businesses for the future. Strategies which could increase performance and competitive advantage should be highly relevant. My argument is that gender diversity should be considered as one such strategy.
“By introducing flexible working and shared parental leave it could boost the number of women in the sector and there is a legal entitlement which allows positive action, but which is underutilised.
“Employers will say there is absolutely no scope for flexible working in their organisation, and of course I am not suggesting that offshore shift patterns could be overhauled to make them more family friendly. But if these themes are rejected in their entirety without any exploration of potential business benefits in certain contexts, it could be a missed opportunity.”
Williams accepts the obvious challenge is the commercial pressure organisations are already under, and a lack of resources to look at these propositions leads to the immediate conclusion is that it if it costs money such initiatives will be stifled.
“At a time when the primary concern of employers in the industry has become one of pure survival, something radical is needed,” she adds.
“The continuous cycle of cut-cut-cut in hard times and recruiting back when things improve, seems to me to be unsustainable and we now have an opportunity to do things completely differently. Other sectors like financial services have demonstrated the business case for greater gender diversity is quite compelling and it would be foolhardy for the oil and gas sector not to consider it.
“The various legal entitlements provide tools for leveraging these decisions, but ultimately oil and gas employers must consider going beyond compliance and forge a way towards increased female representation and gender equality. The industry has proved itself to be adaptable and resilient many times before, and this should be welcomed as one facet of the significant challenge in the coming years.”