This is the first installment of a three-part series examining the challenges and opportunities women face in forging a career in the oil patch. The information was collected through a brief e-mail questionnaire with a promise of anonymity for those responding.

The following comment reveals even long-standing discussions may fail to close the gaps in perception about the movement of women toward equality in the workplace: "My wife and I have had a 20-year discussion about sexism, or the lack thereof, in business. Perhaps because I am an avowed fan of women and cannot tolerate sexism, I can honestly say that I have never been in an all-male meeting or gathering of any sort in the oil business where a woman's career or professionalism was ever discussed in any sexual or sexist way."
If this isn't an issue, why has it been a 20-year discussion?
There seems to be a natural human tendency to focus on what we want to obtain, rather than what we already have. This translates into people tending to not notice discrimination unless they are negatively impacted by it.
A woman observed, "Men dominate this industry now as they have for the last 100 years. No matter how hard you work, you are still only a woman. Women must work twice as much as men to gain equivalent benefits or recognition."
A man confided, "As a leader in organizations, I have always been irritated that I was restricted access to all of the brain power and creativity in the work force. In 1981, I promoted a woman to a supervisory role at a major oil company. I heard many reasons why this was a bad idea. None proved to be valid. Many of the senior management and executives, while professing to encourage women to get ahead would very subtly and behind the scenes throw out reasons such as, 'I suspect we should not do this as she will probably have another baby soon.'"
The survey that generated this article was too small to be statistically significant, but the results revealed a clear pattern. Slightly more than half of the men polled think the playing field is level for men and women. In sharp contrast, 85% of the women think that overall, they face more hurdles than men. Almost everyone agrees the situation is improving for women, but a small fraction of the women think things are getting worse.
Examples of the comments from the men who think women no longer face extra obstacles include:
• "We all work in a merit-based industry where performance counts. There are good and not-so-good engineers, both women and men. I have supervised and been supervised by all varieties. Currently, women are well represented in all levels of management. I have never heard any gratuitous derogatory comments towards women engineers or managers."
• "We have gone beyond the tokenism of the past and are well on the way to a real level playing field. We in the industry went through denial, to quotas, to accelerated sensitivity training, etc. It has been a long struggle, but now we are through the fog. The next step is for the ladies to demand equality, by which I mean come to the table expecting nothing but equality."
• "My sense is that it is now a level playing field, or in fact a bit tilted the other way as the industry tries to make up for past sins."
In contrast, as the comments below indicate, most of the women surveyed do not believe the field is level over its entire length:
• "The major obstacle women face in the oil and gas industry is the inability of (their) male counterparts to admit that they, consciously or unconsciously, treat their women co-workers differently than their male co-workers. The most insidious part of the problem is that many of the men truly believe that they are completely fair to everyone and do not recognize their shortcomings. I have worked with some really great men who I believe strive to treat their co-workers fairly and according to their demonstrated abilities and are quite successful at it. It's just that I have had fewer experiences with these men than with the more biased ones."
• "While there have been marked improvements (largely due to affirmative action in the earlier years and its residual effects), there still are few women board members, officers and even managers in our industry, while parity is being more closely approached in other fields. For several decades, many top engineering graduates have been women and minorities, while supervisory and lower-level management in most petroleum companies continues to be occupied primarily by white males. The idea that there are no available, qualified women for more senior positions indicates a systemic problem in recruiting, developing, promoting and training women engineers within the petroleum industry."
• "My company, a major oil company, states that the number of women professionals in the company is between 25% and 30%. The women must be in the downstream side of the business as there are only about 5% to 10% in this segment of the company. If you look at just the engineering segment, it is even less."
• "Within my company, the highest levels are still all male and primarily all white male. I think it's more a question of seniority at this point. Senior-level company managers have what? 20-plus years of experience? They started to be groomed 10 to 15 years ago. The women who potentially could fill similar roles now in most cases were not groomed and have moved on to other things or other industries. At least within my company I can count on one hand the number of women that have the capabilities and seniority to fill those very top levels in the organization."
• "Companies banter back and forth about diversity, acceptance, tolerance. Despite the rhetoric, they are not 'walking the talk.' We simply do not have women in lead critical positions."
When a man saw the above comments, he countered, "It has only been the last 15 to 20 years that a measurable, but small number of women have entered the petroleum engineering workforce."
As a 20-plus-year female veteran of the industry who has during the years compared notes with many of my female contemporaries, I may not have statistical proof of discrimination, but I have plenty of anecdotal evidence.
Women are aware that early in their careers in the petroleum industry, they may obtain a job more easily and may advance faster than their male counterparts. However, that favoritism may have been initiated to make up for past problems, the causes of which may still be present. Furthermore, the favoritism in itself creates new problems.
A woman with 4 years of industry experience lamented, "Women face jealousy or resentment because once a woman proves that she will do a good job, she tends to move up at a faster pace than average. Many times this leads to resentment and making her job much harder."
Many women agree with the woman who said, "Women have to prove themselves that much more capable so that people don't think they got their position just because of being a woman."
A woman with 1 year in the industry observed, "Women have to be prepared and know that no matter where they work, or how good they are, there will always be someone who thinks they are not qualified or good enough."
Many men and women agree that a woman, at least at the beginning of her career, enjoys some advantages. The following comments provide a male perspective on this turnabout:
• "In the sciences (especially engineering), women have a far bigger advantage than men. Grade for grade, women will get more job offers than their male counterparts. Companies are trying to make up for the underrepresentation of women in their ranks, so they are competing for female graduates."
• "In the beginning, women get special attention. For example, the average upper-level manager is sure to know the name of an entry-level woman, but not necessarily that of an entry-level man. And they are more likely to get special mentoring and attention."
Getting in the door is one thing. Staying employed in an almost constantly downsizing industry and continuing to advance is another.
A woman wrote, "I have been in the petroleum industry for 4 years. In my experience, women who do a good job and work hard have an advantage over the men. However, those women who don't believe that working hard and doing a good job is needed to keep their job since they are female are completely wrong. Two out of the four women engineers that worked in my office were let go in downturns."
Even more than 20 years ago, there was a slight bias for hiring the few women available. In the late 1970s, when I telephoned a major oil company to accept my first permanent job, the hiring manager blurted out, "We're so glad you are a woman." In those days the inflection point, where being a woman turned from an advantage to a disadvantage, occurred at a low level of responsibility. I soon heard, "You can't have a younger woman supervising an older man."
Where is the inflection point now, and how great is the tilt on either side? No doubt the answers vary somewhat from company to company. Still, I suspect men and women even at the same company perceive the inflection and tilt differently.
One man noted, "When there is reasonable equality of minorities or women nowadays in the petroleum business, the women or minorities get the promotion over the white male. If there is true 'equality' of the candidates, I can accept this direction. However, I've seen a couple of cases where the woman or member of the minority group was not as good as a white male colleague. When that happens, it is a disservice to all."
Whereas a woman observed, "The rarity value of the female manager means that unfortunate individual is held up as the role model for all women. This is great if the woman in question is an excellent manager, leader, etc., but unfortunately reflects on us all if she is not up to the job. It also creates the perception, truthful or otherwise, of positive discrimination, or the 'golden staircase,' which means that even if a woman has a well-deserved promotion, there will likely be colleagues casting aspersions as to whether she achieved it on her merits or her gender."
With regard to the efforts to equalize the treatment of women, some people believe large companies have made a greater effort. For example, one woman noted, "The major oil and gas companies have done a much better job in treating their people fairly; they have a decent track record on most issues. Our litigious society has created the need for companies to protect themselves. If one were to track women today in positions of power and upper management, you can be sure most of them are working for a major."
Editor's note: The next installment of this series will examine some of the specific obstacles women face in the petroleum industry and actions that can be taken to address them.

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