Energy Industry Looking to Add Women to the Ranks
From Energy Pipeline:
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Oil and gas companies and trade organizations including the American Petroleum Institute want more women like Tannehill in the industry’s ranks. In the next 15 years, the industry is projected to grow by 1.3 million new jobs. Today, only 19 percent of the industry’s employees are women.
“This is a perfect time for women to develop a different vision for what they want to do,” said Rayola Dougher, senior economic adviser at the American Petroleum Institute, based in Washington D.C., who spoke in Denver recently for the Colorado Petroleum Council’s Women In Power initiative, a proposal designed to draw more women to the industry. “Most of the women who work in the industry are in administrative jobs. But it’s time to break out of our boxes and our old way of thinking.”
In the next decade, half of those in management positions in oil and gas will be retiring. According to surveys, 71 percent of the total workforce in the industry is 50 or older. Half of the geophysicists and engineers in the field are expected to retire in the next five years.
In addition, many of the new jobs expected to be added to the industry will be blue-collar positions for those including electricians, welders and people skilled in construction.
Dougher said it’s time for women to look at jobs traditionally held by men in the industry and ask themselves, “Why not?”Read that whole article by clicking here.
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