Why have Arab women been dismissed from working in the oil business?

by Carol Nakhle

Can the black gold be women’s best friend, as is the case with white gold, diamonds and jewellery? The role of women is on the first pages of local as well as international papers in addition to its being a central issue in political and social conferences.
Lately, it has been emphasized that women have to partake in all vital affairs as a major step towards the establishment of Democracy in Arab countries. If such changes occur, they will necessarily protrude major developments and outstanding progress in the Arab society which is known to be a patriarchal society for long.

Women have never been regarded seriously as in the case with the male. She was never propelled to join the labour force in its various divisions. As a matter of fact it can be said that women occupy a marginal share in the labour market and hence they don’t benefit from the fringed endowed upon males. When women start partaking their productive role in society many changes will happen as a result.
One of the questions that may be asked is: Will the oil and gas business be open for women to work in? Will women have the same chances in their career life and play effective roles as men do specifically in oil business? This is the tenor in this article. The answer requires revision for demand of the energy sector for women in positions.

Oil business is not restricted just to exploration, digging out and transporting the product. The matter is more complicated. Many phases have to be considered prior to any practice. Oil operations are schemed by the government which determines the participation between the public sector and the private sector all supervised by the National Company as the case is in the Arab countries that produce oil. If this is not the case, then the private sector will be given full authority as the case is in Britain.
The decision is not an easy one and is quite controversial, such as with the case in Iraq since it doesn’t follow a clear path. Another decision should come along with the previously mention one.

It has to do with taxation. The taxation system used in oil business has its impact on the timing of productivity and development in addition to the general revenues of the companies. The countries that rely on oil production face difficult challenges at the time when they have to design the taxation plans regarding oil business, in a way to guarantee a fair part for the State from oil revenues, while offering sufficient incentives to promote investment.
Such decisions require serious research before any exploration process. Only in these two phases the opportunities should be made wide open for any individual whether male or female.

The oil sector provides a larger boundary in many areas such as the economic, the political, the legislative, ending with engineering and scientific disciplines not bereft of mathematics and technology. A visit to any oil company web site will suffice to show all these variables.
Moreover, with a further cutting-edge technologyall operations became more simplified. Most technical work relies on the use of computer nowadays instead of physical labour. Intellect and analytic thinking has superseded physical labour. From this perspective it can be said that there are no reasons to deter women’s participation in the oil business operations. Hence, women are capable of participating in oil business given the above developments.

The question that lingers in the mind is: Will the gates be open for her? Will the female be admitted to participate in a field that has been considered a male dominated field indiscriminately among nations?
This is a ravelled situation whose solution requires challenge. We believe in the indispensability for women to partake in productivity in all sectors, a step towards democracy, thus, marking a great leap in exposing cultural maturity and civil ascent.

The number of men working for oil companies exceeds by far the number of women in the same enterprise at the technical as well as the execution levels. At the execution level, only 6.4 % are women. Despite the fact that this rate appears to be too low, it reveals progress if compared with the rate of the same gender a decade ago.
At present women show ability in controlling her social life and deciding on her future career life within the confines of the milieu of male dominance. They started venturing fields of work like in oil business. In South Africa, for instance, women made measures contending to change the status quo in their country. They formed a new organization working to facilitate their participation in the commercial sphere as well as in oil and gas sectors.

It is of utmost importance to give women the right opportunities and encourage them to participate in the labour force in oil business. Though this is a strategic sector, it doesn’t disregard women as active participants in it. We have to respect the qualifications that women have instead of comparing their potentials with those of men.
Of equal importance is to have women confide in themselves so that they may succeed in achieving their goals far from trying to imitate the male in any aspect or focus or surpassing him. They have to avoid searching for gender discrimination elements.

All impediments will be removed, only when women will prove themselves and take the initiative to develop their skills, since their aptitudes will be made manifest and she will play a vital role in the prosperity of its environment. Once again, if the prevailing slogan is that gold and diamond are the women’s best friends, it is high time for the women to demonstrate that black gold -- the strategic source of power -- can also be her friend.
As for those who oppose women participation and find her interest in the oil sector to be strange, they should reconsider their point of view closely and objectively. They should start by answering the following simple question: who restricted the oil world to men only?

Ms Nakhle is a researcher and consultant in oil and energy matters.