This qualitative study explores some of the challenges women long-distance commuters from Kelowna, British Columbia, face when working in the oil fields of Wood Buffalo, Alberta—specifically, how they reinforce, resist, or reconcile gender tensions. within the male-dominated resource. extractive workforce. These fluctuations can have major impacts on the lives of resource extraction workers and long-distance rotary workers. While male workers make up the majority of extractive industry workers in Canada at 82.9% (RMWB, 2012b), the number of women is increasing.
This type of labor emerged in the 1950s in offshore oil and gas companies in the Gulf of Mexico (Jones, 2014; Storey, 2010) and can now be seen around the world, especially in Australia and Canada (Austin, 2006; Burke, Matthison). , Einarsen, Fiskenbaum, Soiland, 2007; Öfner & Ramsey, 2014) due to their large resource extraction industries. Material practices can be understood as “the social structures, conditions, relationships and modes of organizing that are directly and indirectly related to resource extraction and that interact with the everyday lives of men and women” (O'Shaughnessy & Krogman, 2011, p. 137). . These practices influence each other at different scales in the resource extraction industry and reveal deeper dialectical tensions regarding understandings of women's 'roles' in relation to their gender.
Due to the masculine culture that characterizes the resource extraction industry, women have had to find ways to successfully integrate into the dominant culture in order to be accepted and successful among 'the guys'. Miller, 2004; Pirrota, 2009), as one woman in the oilfield industry detailed regarding her attire: “When you go to the field, you don't take a purse because you really rub in the female helplessness, and you put all your junk—the feminine hygiene— things—in your little pockets" (Miller, 2004, p. 54). Capitulating to the status quo through conformity as a way for women to integrate into working in a male-dominated resource extraction industry is not a strategy universally adopted by women workers.
The new presence of women in resource extraction creates tensions about living and working in a man's world that women must reconcile. Few studies have looked at the experiences of extractive women in Canada, particularly long-distance workers (Anger, Cake, & All participants lived in Kelowna – where they were interviewed – and had at least six months long-distance driving experience). for sourcing work in Wood Buffalo over the past five years.
This occupational distribution of participants reflects the gendered pattern of resource work. Five of the women had relatives who worked in sourcing, so they were familiar with the requirements and rewards. During their stay in the resource extraction community, all but one of the women remained in the oil camp, and the remainder was a tenant.
Participants also mentioned feeling lonely while away in Wood Buffalo, a disadvantage commonly identified by mobile workers in resource extraction (Angel, 2014). Seven of the nine women interviewed agreed that motherhood is a barrier to working with resource extraction. Motherhood as a barrier is consistent with findings from previous studies of women's experiences of resource extraction in both Canada and Australia, which found a lack of prioritization of family-friendly policies (Dorow, 2015; Ranson.
To counter these perceptions, participants emphasized discourses of hard work, having skills and knowledge, and being solely focused on work: “Our work ethic is, like, we're there to work, head down, and you work 12 hours. ” The repeated emphasis on work exclusivity is marked and suggests a deep sensitivity to perceptions regarding women's abilities and competence, as well as the authority men are given to judge.
Recommendations
The participant who ate lunch only to avoid hearing derogatory comments about women made by male colleagues later downplayed the seriousness and severity of the incident. This may be carried out and supported by health, safety and environmental supervisors, may take no more than a few minutes each day, should include identifying issues and implementing strategies to improve or improve problems and may include information on safeguarding from harassment and other violations. and on the provisions in the Canadian Human Rights Act. Even when grievance processes are available, workers will be reluctant to use them if, as our study participants feared, there are no protections against retaliation.
Despite efforts to improve the situation of women in the oil industry, it remains dominated by men. On-site programs are needed as part of training and orientation to promote inclusive attitudes that help employees and managers better understand and identify implicit and explicit discrimination or hegemonic gender roles. Harassment management should also be integrated into the curricula of professional programs and disciplines such as engineering.
Our survey participants indicated that they had little or no recourse when it came to reporting harassment or other negative experiences. While most of the women had positive experiences with male colleagues, most of them also identified at least one troubling incident that was not reported, or was reported but not handled satisfactorily, that is, with little help or recourse. Having more women in supervisory and leadership roles would help restore the balance of power.
Oil-rich Alberta, which has a reputation as a socially regressive regime, has historically resisted efforts to promote equality for minority groups. Improving relations between women and men in the oil industry will require more trust than currently exists (Fraser, Mannani & Stefanick, 2015; Shrivastava & Stefanick, 2015). With more women working in the oil fields, it should be possible to provide more social support for female workers, which can reduce social liability such as harassment.
More direct social support would involve opportunities for more interaction between workers, such as barbecues and lunches. Greater social support and interactions have been identified as increasing positive associations with resource extraction work and long-distance commuting (Misan & Rudnik, 2015) and by a study of female police officers experiencing workplace harassment (Brown, 2015). Changing the workplace culture can involve occupational strategies to build and promote solidarity among workers and resist individualism by increasing opportunities and activities for social interaction and creating more shared common spaces, for example by providing a lounge area with hydration and snack stations available in any work trailer .
Conclusion
Women's involvement in reproducing hegemonic masculinity [in this analysis] does not attempt to shift accountability to women for their subordinate position (as I acknowledge that the social processes that produce masculine dominance are much more complex than this). Women's roles in reproducing masculine narratives are more a reflection of the strength and prevalence of hegemonic forms of masculinity than women's involvement and complicity. Nuanced compromises with hegemonic gender norms are intertwined with women's coping strategies to maintain their position in the industry.
Understanding how these dominant discursive and material practices are produced and reproduced is essential to overcoming their marginalizing effects and cultivating transformative change. While the study participants did not challenge the practices that marginalize women in resource extraction workplaces, or the structures that separate work and family spheres and a lack of family-friendly policies, they were highly aware of how to avoid or mitigate gender-related disadvantages. reduced in the workplace, and impatient with the slowness of progressive change in gender relations. Based on these findings, modifications are required at the corporate and government levels to bring about transformative change.
Women are overrepresented in the secondary and tertiary sectors of the oil industry (Government of Alberta, 2014), reflecting traditional patterns of gendered division of labor. Concerted efforts, such as government-funded initiatives and programs to encourage larger numbers of women to enter the professions, mathematics, sciences, and engineering, are needed to change this pattern (Smart, 2016). This exploratory study also points to the need for more comparative studies in medium-sized cities on women's 'migration trajectories' (work), including the forces leading to long-distance female labor migration and the resulting social and economic consequences. as well as the barriers and challenges they face that may affect their integration into the workforce, especially in specific sectors of the Canadian economy.
It is important for the City of Kelowna to plan proactively, in collaboration with local industries and local housing market players, to address their residents' issues of adequate income and affordable housing, and thereby integrate rather its inhabitants in the local society.
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