A leadership seminar in Aberdeen yesterday brought together women from across the oil and gas industry to look at the challenges faced by female executives in the sector.
The event took place in the midst of a UK-wide debate about a gender imbalance at the top level of FTSE 100 companies. A report by Lord Davies in 2011 urged firms to double the percentage of women in the boardroom to 25% by 2015.
Jann Brown, managing director and chief financial officer of Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy, said yesterday women needed to choose the businesses they worked for carefully.
She added: “You will not succeed in an organisation that has very different values to your own.” Mrs Brown, who studied accountancy after starting a family, said she had learnt more about leadership from motherhood than in the workplace.
Kirsty Bashforth, group head of organisational effectiveness at BP, said men were often better at raising their profile in the workplace, adding: “Women need to be visible and recognise that people won’t just spot you for your work.”
The first woman president of the Energy Institute (EI), Joan MacNaughton, highlighted the importance of being flexible in dealing with different boardroom styles across the globe.
Women needed to develop a range of styles to avoid being labelled as “strident”, Ms MacNaughton added.
The event was organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and EI.