The oil and gas industry rejected claims it is turning women away from the sector in a row over campaigns featuring “scantily-clad women in hard hats”.
Union leader Stephen Boyd, assistant secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, said yesterday he feared the sector was sending out the wrong message to women.
But industry bodies said firms were working hard to recruit people – regardless of their gender.
Speaking to the Scottish Parliament’s equal opportunities committee, Mr Boyd said: “Colleagues who work in the Close the Gap project have shown me a number of adverts which are essentially, ‘come and work in the oil and gas sector’. The pictures which accompany them feature scantily-clad women wearing hard hats.
“What sort of message does that send out to women? If you’re a young woman, you’re not going to work in a sector that is throwing images back at you like that.”
Mr Boyd said after the meeting he was referring to an advert used by one drilling contractor. “If one company feels they can do something so explicit, it may reflect a wider view in the industry,” he added.
Alix Thom, industry body Oil & Gas UK’s employment and skills issues manager, said the organisation had written to Mr Boyd asking him to pass on the advert. “We certainly do not condone this way of advertising as an appropriate or effective way to ensure an adequate supply of skilled people to meet the growing demand,” she said.
David Doig, group chief executive of the industry skills body Opito, said: “Up to 15,000 people are needed in the short term, with thousands more in the future, so attracting the cream of the UK’s emerging talent is crucial for the sector’s continued success.
“We want to inspire people, no matter which gender they are, to think about a career in oil and gas.”