The Deputy Managing Director of Tullow Ghana Limited, Cynthia Lumor has underscored the need for drastic changes in institutional, organizational and government policies to allow for diversity and inclusion of women in all spheres of life.
Presently, she said factors such as social, cultural, economic and attitudinal issues are limiting society’s ability to reap the full benefit of women’s participation for improved organizational, institutional and national performance.
She said: “Research has demonstrated that when diversity and inclusion are deliberately planned and properly executed, and the ideas and experience of a diverse organization are fully included in idea generation and decision-making, companies benefit from the motivation, creativity and innovation from that result. The contribution of women in those circumstances cannot be overestimated.”
In her view, competent women are fully capable of making significant contributions in any role and should not be unfairly constrained due to conscious or unconscious bias.
Contributing to a panel discussion on ‘Diversity and Inclusion at the Africa Oil Week in Dubai, UAE, Madam Cynthia Lumor said both men and women have a role to play in ensuring diversity and inclusion and called on all players to be deliberate about playing their part.
Speaking to energynesafrica.com, Madam Cynthia Lumor noted that it is time for the oil and gas industry to correct the historically low participation of women in the industry as the industry is still skewed with only about 30 per cent participation of women.
She attributed the low representation of women in the sector to several factors including lower participation in the educational disciplines that form the basis for jobs in the sector, lack of knowledge about jobs, limited networks for access to opportunities, organizational structures that do not readily promote the work-life balance to accommodate women, especially during child-bearing and rearing ages, lack of career development and training and social and cultural norms that promote the belief that certain roles are the preserve of men, among others.
According to her, this needs to change, and in her view, the energy transition presents the world with the best opportunity to write the wrongs of the past.
Emphasizing the need for equal opportunities for both males and females, Madam Cynthia Lumor outlined what must be done to encourage women.
“Things like relevant education, active encouragement, deliberate hiring practices, internships, mentorship, training and development on the job, access to information, equal pay and support, interventions and policies that encourage and make women feel comfortable and respected in the workplace, are very important,’’ she said.
Stressing the benefit of diversity and inclusion, Madam Cynthia Lumor said, “When we are deliberate about diversity and inclusion, we impact the bottom line because we get diversity and free flow of creative and innovative ideas for problem-solving and decision-making, thereby, positively impacting performance.’’
Touching on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Madam Cynthia Lumor noted that there is limited participation of women.
“We know that in education, STEM disciplines, for example, do not typically have a lot of women. If you go to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and assess the male/female ratio of students pursuing engineering courses, I would venture to say the men would outnumber the women,’’ she posited.
She stated that there must be deliberate, effective measures put in place to correct the imbalance.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com