Dubai played host to the 5th annual Women’s Global Leadership Conference in Energy and Technology on Sunday – the first time the conference has been held outside of Houston, Texas.
Opening the proceedings at the event, organised to provide a platform for women involved in the energy industries, was His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed, chairman and chief executive of the Emirates Airline Group.
“I am confident that conferences such as this, along with a renewed commitment to the future of our children and planet, will provide the stability we all crave as citizens of the world,” said Saeed. The conference consisted of several presentations and panel discussions on topical issues in the industry, as well as the opportunity of discussing the growing number of women in leadership and engineering roles in the major NOCs and IOCs, and what more was needed to be done in providing an equal footing to women progressing in their careers.
“Women represent an integral part of our overall human capital and human resource. Today, we have 2000 students around the world studying bachelors, masters and PHD degrees in subjects like petroleum engineering and geosciences, and a growing proportion of them are women,” said Dr Muhammed Saggaf, chief petroleum engineer, Saudi Aramco.
“We have an increasing number of women coming in the pipeline, which gives you an idea that in four to five years you will see many more women in technical and leadership roles within the company,” he added.
Among the women who were among the selection of panellists voicing their opinions at the event was Ghaniya Bin Daeer Al Yafei, team leader for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) at ADCO. Somewhat of a veteran in her field, Al Yafei was the first female petroleum engineer in the UAE.
“Things were very hard for me when I started 20 odd years ago – my work is very much in a male dominated field,” said Al Yafei
“But for the future I believe it will be very different, and I believe that women will actually be outnumbering men in the industry here in the UAE,” to which she received laughter from the audience. “It is true; this is what I believe with the amount of female talent that is coming through,” she reinforced.
Debra Grandjean, oil and gas global client service partner for Ernst & Young, commented on the company’s position in terms of recruiting and retaining female talent.
“The main challenge is retaining female talent. We realised 10-years-ago that women were not staying at the company, and we identified three main reasons: flexibility, particular when it came to life choices such as having children; having female mentors at senior levels within the company; and finally restricting females to administrative and project management roles rather than giving them technical roles,” explained Grandjean.
Questions later arose about whether women really were getting equal opportunities here in the Middle East, particularly when some countries have a more conservative approach to equality between the sexes.
“We probably see less women in high powered jobs than in other parts of the world, due to historically not having the flexibility for women looking to start a family,” said Danny Leinnders, client partner MENA for Korn/Ferry International.
While on a more positive note, Nassina Mohammedi, HR manager – oilfield services, Schlumberger, stated: “There is currently a big drive from different governments to get women more rights, so I don’t believe this region is behind or less advanced than other regions.”
What was not up for debate was the ability and talent of the women either holding top positions in the oil and gas industry or the ones beginning their career, and what they can contribute to an industry famous for being male dominated.
“If you look at the Fortune 500 it has been shown that companies with three or more women on their board of directors have a 75% higher profit and 80% higher equity performance,” said Paul Benson, managing director of power, utilities and infrastructure, Heidrick & Struggles.
“You always get more attention as a woman, whether this is negative or positive, so you must work this to your advantage. I have learned to have tough skin – what people say or they way they act towards you may not be intended to be offensive, so you must take it with a smile on your face,” added Pinar Yilmaz, manager, external project collaboration, ExxonMobil.
Although turnout at the conference was lower than had been expected, it was a rousing display by some of the key performers in the industry, creating a firmly positive reaction from the mainly female crowd and leaving them of no doubt that they were fully equipped to go all the way to the top, if they so pleased.
