Dubai women opening the door to a whole new world

There are an awful lot of people who don’t really understand what the company they are working for is aiming to achieve or what the industry the company is in, is about. Understanding the playing surface is a major part in fitting in and contributing to the full, but it is a knowledge level that in certain parts of the world is aggravated by culture.

The role of women in the Middle East is an emerging and changing one. When put in an oil industry setting it is a particularly challenging one. Neela Pratap from ENSCO Dubai recognised that and looked around her at a growing number of female colleagues. A chat with Robert Thomas, Sales Manager at Maersk Training in Dubai opened a door and Neela and nine colleagues walked through it.

Introduction to The Oil and Gas Industry

Maersk Training has long held Introduction To Drilling courses, where people whose only contact with the oil industry had been at the petrol pump, learnt the various and complex roles of those on rigs and platforms and were shown the types of difficulty they had to overcome. It’s a short sharp lesson, but one which helps tremendously in building up a respect between off and on shore.

More Women Involved

It is a respect that globally is hampered by traditional viewpoints with regard to gender. Pretty well everywhere, oil is a man’s game, in the Middle Eastern business, oil is men’s work. Recognizing this, Neela, as a Middle East Representative for Enspire, Ensco’s Women’s Network, had an initiative to get female staff more involved in the industry.

Maersk Training ran an introductory course, but Robert sees it as a key course, one that opens minds and doors. ‘We’d like other companies to pick up on ENSCO’s initiative, but in truth regardless of gender or cultural background, knowledge of the industry you are in is vital to enhance performance,’ he commented.