Not many people dream of working in the harsh environment of an oil rig, way out in the middle of the South China Sea. The list dwindles further when you consider the number of women both qualified and willing to put their hand up for such an assignment. So imagine an Emirati woman from a small, conservative village near Al Ain, toiling away hundreds of kilometres off the coast of Malaysia's Sarawak state – surely not?
Salma Al Hajeri not only works in such tough rig conditions, but as subsurface manager of Mubadala Petroleum’s SK320 project, she is currently leading the team of engineers assessing the commercial potential of the company’s big gas find there. And Ms Al Hajeri not only dreamed of such an assignment, she insisted upon it. “In my first days with Mubadala, I demanded an overseas assignment,” she says. “Being a young and ambitious engineer, I was nominated several times for an overseas assignment, but my name was always excluded for different reasons. An overseas project was my long-waited dream.”
Such determination is what you would expect from a woman trying to get on in management in any field. But in petroleum engineering, still so male-dominated, the effort required is that much greater, particularly for Emirati women who also have cultural challenges to overcome. It is no surprise, therefore, to find the women who have broken into senior positions display a palpable desire to succeed.
“Maybe I’m biased but females here are much smarter than the men” says Mariam Al Hendi, a mechanical engineer at Abu Dhabi Gas Industries, known as Gasco. “Just look at the statistics”.
Ms Al Hendi, along with Ms Al Hajeri, were among the first women to attend the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, which allowed women through its doors only from the 2006-07 academic year. Both graduated in 2011. Ms Al Hajeri earned her master’s in petroleum engineering, 10 years after her primary degree in electrical engineering, and a year later took an MBA at Abu Dhabi University.
The women are needed to fill an industry skills shortage. A recent paper by Twenty Recruitment Group noted that of a forecast 1.3 million positions that need to be filled in the US oil and gas sector over the next 15 years, just 14 per cent are expected to be filled by women – and the percentages are lower elsewhere in the world. And in a recent survey conducted by BP and Rigzone, 72 per cent of professionals said they believed the sector is still male-dominated.
“People [in the oil and gas sector] work hard, in relatively harsh conditions, even office-based employees have to work long hours across different time zones,” says Samar El Mnhrawy, the head of human resources for Middle East Asia-Pacific at Baker Hughes, the oil and gas services company. “The perception can be it is not a good place for women to work.”
Companies like Baker Hughes make special efforts to promote women in the workplace, including forums for coaching and mentoring. Although there is still a relatively low percentage of women working for the company in the region – about 11 per cent – it is setting targets to tap into the female talent pool, Ms El Mnhrawy says.
There are the additional cultural obstacles to overcome, although the pioneering female Emirati engineers deal with it in their own way. “One senior Emirati colleague told me: ‘I do not agree that woman should work on site.’ I said: ‘OK, I don’t agree with you. How do you expect the country to progress?’” says Ms Al Hendi. “I know that many think the same, but do not say it to my face. But you would be surprised by the amount of support … The most support I get is on site, which you wouldn’t expect. Maybe they forget that I’m a woman because of the nature of the work. Maybe they like to see a woman in a big gas turbine, in safety overalls and a hard hat.”
For Ms Al Hajeri, there were similar obstacles. “I was the first female reservoir engineer in Adco,” she recalls. “I used to attend operation meetings with 30-40 males who wouldn’t listen or give me the chance to speak. In addition, I wasn’t allowed to work on the field site, or witness the operations. I had to be strong and decisive to survive in this male-dominated environment. It wasn’t only about the tough working environment, but also the social culture that didn’t appreciate the mixing between the sexes. I was always asked by others: ‘How do you accept working with men and attending meetings with them?’”
Ms El Mnhrawy of Baker Hughes adds: “As employers we should respect the cultural and religious needs of the country we work in and work around it.” In Kuwait, for example, there is a law prohibiting females from working after 7pm, which is impractical for rig work. So Baker Hughes negotiated a deal with the government to allow women to stay on board in separate accommodation and work earlier shifts.
As the first wave of Emirati women to make inroads into this industry, the female engineers feel proud of setting an example. Ms Al Hajeri says: “I was raised in a small isolated town called Swaihan, part of Al Ain city, by parents who didn’t go to school. In fact, most parents in Swaihan were unschooled, especially the mothers.”
But watching Ms Al Hajeri work her way through school and up the management ladder changed local perceptions. “Our neighbours and relatives who strongly opposed the idea of going to university started to encourage their daughters – sometimes force them — to follow my path. Being part of changing the social culture in this conservative, isolated town is my biggest achievement. Despite all negative voices in society, I was determined to break the norms and shape my own future.”
amcauley@thenational.ae
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