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SUCCESSFUL WOMEN IN WIND


BEST TIME EVER FOR WOMEN TO ENTER THE OFFSHORE INDUSTRY


The offshore industry may not, on face value, be every woman’s cup of tea. It has the reputation of rough, tough men, dirt and danger. And in Britain generally, engineering, technology and science, is failing to attract women.


According to the Institute of Engineering and


Technology, the UK has the lowest proportion of female engineering professionals (8.7per cent) in the EU.


CATHERINE LIEBNITZ


Catherine Liebnitz, Centre Manager at Falck Safety Services, which provides Health, Safety, Survival training and consultancy services for the offshore industry, said: “I think the problem is that many women don’t look toward the excellent careers and prospects offered, particularly in the offshore renewables sector.


“But women need to know what we have here. Our sector is crucial to the economy, we’re expanding and we’re profitable. We have excellent skills and great health and safety standards. Our wages can be three times higher than the national average.


“We need to get the message out to women that the skills shortage requires brains as well as brawn.”


Catherine added: “In the economy as a whole, wages are static, jobs are being lost. The offshore industry is bucking the trend. There is a glut of positions to be filled in the offshore industry. And the vast majority right now are going to men.”


SECTOR GROWTH


A recent industry survey found 81per cent of companies in the sector expect to expand in the next five years. This projection coincides with a spike in older, skilled workers retiring. It all means wages are going up. More younger people are being taken on. The average wage is now £64,000 compared to a national average of £25,000.


Catherine said: “It is the perfect time for women to, at last, get a real foothold in the offshore and renewables industry.”


TURNING THE TIDE


Many women’s talents are being drawn to other disciplines. The numbers for female workers overall in the offshore industry has shown a small but steady decline since 2007. Organisations like WISE, which seeks to promote female talent in science, engineering and technology ‘from classroom to boardroom’ are trying to turn the tide.


Catherine asserts that as well as the money and opportunity for advancement, the knowledge that not all jobs in offshore are actually offshore may be a further lure for women. People are needed to work in companies offering training, design, fabrication. Also, more scientists and managers are needed.


INDUSTRY CULTURE


Even out in the field, the industry culture of equating competence with masculinity is eroding. Overt displays of old style roughneck behaviour is no longer the mark of a good worker.


Workers who behave aggressively are no longer lionised because in the 21st Century, it’s seen as behaviour that can discourage others from speaking up. The new emphasis in industry on continual training and improvement and Health and Safety also means that old ways do not get set in stone. Workers are exposed to enlightened thinking from their managers and from their training providers.


Catherine stated: “At Falck Safety Services, we train 30,000 men and women each year. We rigorously adhere to and even surpass national and international standards. Both genders undertake courses that can be very tough and both genders pass.”


The drive for wind power and renewable energy will arguably help open the door.


RENEWABLE ENERGY


Renewable energy is not encumbered with the same reputation as the oil and gas industry. There is a cross-pollination of ideas in wind power with Germany and Denmark leading the wind revolution in Europe. Both countries have a higher proportion of women in engineering.


Catherine, whose company has training bases in Teesside, Peterhead and Aberdeen, said: “All this means that male workers understand they have something to learn. They often learn it from women, too. Training acknowledges that we are all fallible, which in itself makes that stance of invulnerability untenable.”


And added: “The only way is up for women in the offshore industry. At present we make up just 3.7 per cent of the workforce. The time and the conditions are right for a change in perspective.”


14


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