Women’s presence in oil and gas sectors is the lowest globally

In its edition on Tuesday, Al Mustaqbal daily drew attention to the growing need for diversity in the workplace, particularly with the fast changes in the energy sector, and the increasing efforts to empower women as vital catalysts for the success of businesses. According to Al Mustaqbal, these statements were made by women leaders within the framework of preparations for the ‘women in the energy sector’ event which will be organized on the sideline of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference ADIPIC 2016 which id planned for next November. On this subject, the director of the strategy and planning for the energy sector unit at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ADNOC, Fatima Naimi, who is expected to participate as speaker in the conference (‘a marked improvement in women’s affairs in the Emirates’), has underlined the steady support she received from the Emirate’s wise leadership during the past few years. She indicated that obstacles in the energy industry are increasing not only in the region but globally, and are related mainly to financial, social and mental factors. These, she added, vary from the development of supportive institutional infrastructure to inspiring women to become part of the future prospects in the field. For her part, Eline Wilkinson, the vice president of exploration in the MENA region at Shell stressed the significant added value of women’s participation in the energy sector’s workforce. Similarly, Al Mustaqbal highlighted a new report by Reuters which revealed that women representation in the oil and gas sectors is the lowest among other sectors. Likewise, an analysis study by leading global people and organizations advisory firm, Korn Ferry, on the American energy companies has shown that women represent only 6 % of the CEO positions in the sector. Linkedin, the professional networking service, on the other hand has found that women represent nearly 26.7% of its total member specialists involved in the oil and gas industries worldwide, a figure which it described is the lowest among the sectors regularly reviewed by the organisation.  (Al Mustaqbal, August 30, 2016)