Houston — Career prospects for women in the oil and gas industry have improved in recent years and an increasing number of women are taking advantage of those opportunities, according to the majority of energy professionals in the inaugural Global Diversity and Inclusion Report. The study conducted by BP, the international oil and gas company, and Rigzone, the leading online resource for the oil and gas industry, examined female representation in the energy workplace from the perspective of 3,000 oil and gas professionals. While nearly three-quarters of respondents (72 percent) believed oil and gas remains a male-dominated industry and that there is still a lot of progress to be made, a majority of energy professionals said it was very important for the oil and gas industry to ensure it is attractive to women, the study found. Nine out of ten survey respondents were male. The survey uncovered the barriers and challenges women frequently face in the oil and gas industry, as well as potential solutions for increasing female representation. One in five (20 percent) strongly agreed gender-based discrimination occurs within the industry and respondents cited societal conditioning, a lack of qualified candidates and family care responsibilities as the most significant barriers to increasing the proportion of women in the industry.
