They swim against the tide to ascend in a predominantly male environment: the platforms and probes of the oil industry. The long period away from home —these are days of confinement on the high seas—is rewarded in the form of job satisfaction, an additional 130% in salary and schedule flexibility.
Machismo and equipment incompatible with physical size, however, are obstacles faced by women confined to probes and platforms.
Today, women represent only about 5% of workers in the offshore oil and gas sector. But those numbers are changing. In common, the love of the sea.
At the age of 41, engineer Clarice Rodrigues has been, since 2013, general manager of the rig she helped build in South Korea, Norbe IX. She commands 173 professionals — 12 of whom are women —, divided into two teams, with 14-day shifts on board.
Twelve years ago, when she lived for two and a half years in South Korea to coordinate the drilling sector in the construction of the platform, Clarice was the only woman in a leadership role in the team that built Norbe IX.
Today, his team has a ship’s captain, Carla Malafaia, 42, second in the vessel’s hierarchy, and a safety supervisor. There is also an operational engineer and a quality engineer.
Graduated in nautical science, married and mother, Carla spends two weeks on board, about 250 kilometers from the coast.
“When we get here, we turn the switch, switch to offshore mode”, he says.
According to her, “when you go to the sea, you don’t come back”.
Currently, the probe is undergoing a renovation, with an estimated cost of R$ 300 million, under the supervision of Clarice. Married to a businesswoman and mother of João, the engineer has worked on board for five years in countries such as Colombia, Argentina and Mexico.
Today at the top of the hierarchy, Clarice does not deny having faced adversities along the way. “When you’re a woman, you always have to do more, talk more, have to prove more”.
“In all professions, this is what a woman suffers. I also suffer from it”, she admits.
When you’re a woman, you always have to do more, talk more, have to prove more. In all professions, this is what a woman suffers. I suffer from this too
According to her, the evolution has been dramatic since she started working offshore 19 years ago. “As a woman, we are more questioned, yes. We have to speak more than once, yes”.
A survey carried out by the Ipsos Institute points out the advantages and challenges faced by women working offshore. Almost half of the interviewees (45%) answered that it is a very sexist environment, which makes it unattractive to women.
Along with differentiated treatment (38%) and a prejudiced environment (25%), the distance from the family (40%) is pointed out by women as the greatest difficulty for those who work on board.
Cargo supervisor of the FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela of the company SBM Offshore, Suzan Figueiredo, 35, leaves the house while her son, 1 year and 6 months old, is sleeping just to not say goodbye before going on a 14-day journey on high -mar, in addition to four days of isolation imposed by the Covid-19.
Suzan admits that it was not easy to get back to the routine at the end of maternity leave, a year ago. “The beginning was that physical pain that the mother experiences, of pulling out the umbilical cord. It was very difficult. I’m not going to lie”.
Graduated in nautical science, Suzan says that she imagined that, with motherhood, she would not be able to board again. But, in addition to her love for the sea, she wants to show her son, Vitor, that it is possible to reconcile motherhood and employment.
Today at the head of a team of 12 men, she says that on several occasions she was the only woman on trips as a pilot in the Merchant Navy. “I no longer see that barrier I used to have. In the beginning, I saw a very big barrier because I was the only woman”, she says.
No women have to change, they have to adapt to us
Suzan says that she has already changed her posture, stiffened, so that her subordinates would follow her guidelines. But that it considers unnecessary. “No woman has to change. They have to adapt to us.”
For the interviewees, life on board offers professional satisfaction (50%) and good remuneration (47%).
Also according to this survey carried out by the Ipsos Institute and commissioned by the company Ocyan, the scale system, which allows reconciling professional and personal schedules, is seen as an advantage by 45% of women who work offshore.
Subsea and production engineer for TotalEnergies at FPSO Caraguatatuba, Renata Zimbres, 29, says she has a better quality of life today than when she worked in an office. “I have half a year free and half a year doing my work super focused, without distraction.”
Graduated in petroleum engineering from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), Renata says she has brought together her passions for the sea and boat in a profession. “It’s going to be hard for me to get out of the offshore. It’s the best profession in life. It’s a job I love and when I go down I live intensely.”
She says that, among the 130 professionals on board, so far, 4 was the maximum number of women she had lived with on a vessel.
Renata says that the woman’s assertiveness is confused with aggressiveness. She claims that she has also tried to fit into a male environment. But it failed.
“If I had to dress a character, who would go to work and return home, maybe I would be able to support myself, but I stay there for 21 days. People live with me from my waking up, which is at 5:30 am, to my sleeping, which many sometimes it’s midnight. The cool thing is the diversity”, he says.
This study served as inspiration for a movement aimed at expanding the female presence in the offshore market. Eighteen companies in the oil and gas sector launched the campaign “The sea is also theirs” to encourage the entry of female workers into this market and make the routine on the vessels more welcoming for women.
The creator of the research, the vice president of People and Management at Ocyan, Nir Lander, says that the diagnosis will serve to seek equal opportunities in the sector. According to him, it is essential to move forward with more hiring of women, which requires the creation of a safer and more comfortable environment for them.
“We need to unite the efforts of the entire industry. The industry needs to help accelerate this movement”, he defends.
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