For years the oil & gas industry has always been a male dominated sector and there is general acceptance that not enough has been put in place to encourage women to join the industry. A lot of women will enter a more 'traditional' career path as there is not enough encouragement or guidance for them to join the oil & gas industry. A recent campaign by the Department for Work and Pensions has been set up to encourage and inspire women to pursue careers in roles where they may be under-represented, such as engineering and science. The campaign '#NotJustForBoys' is to raise awareness and to celebrate women working across a range of industries.

Morven Spalding, Skills Director of Opito UK, said: "Not Just For Boys is a fantastic initiative and one that complements the vision that we have as a company to celebrate the fantastic work that women do in the oil and gas industry.

He goes on to say: When it comes to increasing the number of women who work in this sector, whether it be onshore or offshore, we know that women themselves are best placed to let us know what support they need. By backing this campaign we are embracing another fantastic platform to showcase women in science, engineering and maths careers and allow their brilliance to speak for itself."

Figures

A report from 2014 found that due to the lack of female role models within the industry and with only a small amount of females signing up to take Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in higher education, there hasn't been an increase in women joining the industry. 4,300 employees were asked to take a survey and results showed that:

• 48% believed the industry culture created by a male dominated environment was the reason for the gender gap
• 42% felt it was because of the HSE risks associated with the physical working environment
• 37% it was due to the lack of women entering the industry

STEM Skill Shortages

One important reason for the lack of women within the industry is down to the shortage of people studying subjects such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics to a high level. Many women are reluctant to study STEM fields as they believe boys have all the experience. Only 13% of women work within the STEM fields but if the proportion of female workers in STEM careers increased to 46% (the total female workforce average in the UK), this could potentially solve the shortfall issue. In the UK a survey found that 55% of STEM employers were already experiencing skill shortages whilst 48% have been unable to fill vacancies as a result of the shortages. This is an issue that is in desperate need of resolving but with the help of the National Oil and Gas Skills Week which was introduced last year, there is still hope for the industry.

The Future

With campaigns such as #NotJustForBoys being introduced and employers becoming increasingly pro-active to close in on the gender gap, there could be a bright future for women and the oil & gas industry. At People With Energy we fully support and encourage women to join the oil & gas industry and want to dispel the myth of it being 'men only' career path. We help to provide jobs for those with a wide variety of skills and have many different roles within the oil & gas industry. Visit our vacancies database for our latest job opportunities.