Equal opportunities, remuneration among challenges women face in O&G industry

As stakeholders continue to advocate and fight for women in society, particularly in working fields that were traditionally male dominated, advocates have recently highlighted some of the common challenges women have and continue to face in the Oil and Gas industry.
The fifth annual Women and Girls Summit was held last Thursday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC). Hosted by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the summit served as a platform for advocacy and action, calling on Government and society to continue pushing for policies that uplift women and girls.

The theme for this year’s event was “Dismantling Biases through Leadership & Mentorship.” Featured on the panel was Vice President of El Dorado Offshore Sarona Samaroo who has more than 7 years of service at the company under her belt.
Samaroo was asked about the systematic barriers in her industry which hinder the advancement of women and girls.
In her response the executive highlighted that in the oil and gas industry women are often greeted with less compensation when compared to their male counterparts as well as less job opportunities
.“When I look at it systematically, there are three main areas that women often are hindered with when it comes to career progression or hiring. Number one being hiring, where sometimes in male-dominated sectors, the decision makers obviously are men, and there are boys clubs that exist in those companies where it’s very difficult to penetrate, and they see women as emotional, they see women as weak, they see women as physically incapable of achieving what they could achieve.”
The Vice President added, “Apart from hiring, in terms of career progression, there are systematic hindrances in terms of compensation, where you talk about pay equity, where still at the forefront companies will post on social media, we have a team of women who lead this department…But is that voice taken seriously? Is that voice empowered to make a difference? Are those women empowered to be the best that they can be by paying them sufficiently, by paying them for what it’s worth?”
Notably this year’s Women and Girls Summit saw more than 100 women in attendance majority of which were young individuals.
However, to effectively combat the gender inequality plague, Samaroo stressed that more male participation is needed at events of a similar nature.
“The changes start with discussions like these and as much as I am happy to see the audience filled with young and brilliant women, we need to bring those men who make those decisions to these conferences and these forums and have those hard-hitting conversations with them…So ladies and gentlemen, and I must commend the gentlemen who’ve made time to show up today, we all have a part to play, but we can only accelerate the 134-year gender gap if we work together to achieving that.”
Moreover, In Guyana’s burgeoning oil and gas industry, women are increasingly breaking barriers and taking on leadership roles, with organisations like Women in Energy (Guyana) and companies like ExxonMobil actively promoting their participation and empowerment.
A growing number of Guyanese women are entering the oil and gas sector, with some companies like ExxonMobil reporting that 52 per cent of their Guyanese employees are women.