Women representation in Qatar’s booming energy industry will be vital for the future as the country, which is the world’s top LNG exporter, aims to build a diverse workforce to meet new challenges amid growing global energy demands, an official from French energy giant Engie has said.
In an interview with The Peninsula, Majda Soussi, who is Head of the Women in Networking (WIN) Group and External Communications Manager at Engie Middle East, South & Central Asia, Turkey and Africa region, said Qatar has a rich pool of female talents who can make valuable contributions in the energy industry. She also stressed that the current transformation seen in the global energy sector demonstrates increasing commitment by industry players to cleaner energy sources.
“It is a transformation that draws interest from new young talents, including women across the Gulf region, and represents a perfect opportunity to boost gender diversity by focusing on female recruitment. Besides, there is a real pool of talents in Qatar as a majority of graduates from engineering schools in the country are women. Also, steps are underway. A few years ago, Doha hosted the Gulf Intelligence Women in Energy Summit to discuss the challenges and opportunities that the domestic oil and gas industry presents to women. It is an ongoing discussion and with continued advocacy, including by industry players like Engie, we can create change to move towards greater gender diversity in the industry,” said Soussi.
According to Soussi, women have a significant part to play in the low carbon energy business, which is ‘fairly new and booming, and needs a younger and different look to bring innovative solutions to support the planet’s transition towards sustainability.
Globally, the energy industry has also witnessed some progress towards gender diversity. However, women are still considered a minority in leadership positions, she added.
Soussi said: “The numbers speak for themselves. About 48 percent of high school science students are women, but only 27 percent of working engineers are. Only one job in three in tech is held by a woman. In the energy industry, women represent less than a quarter of the total workforce and are mostly represented in support functions like communications or human resources. It is a loss for an entire industry if we do not include and benefit from all viewpoints and perspectives, including that of capable female leaders. Step by step, we need to close the gender gap to allow for innovation and female-led entrepreneurship in our industry.
“I fully agree with our CEO Catherine MacGregor who believes that you are not innovative enough, you do not understand markets and consumers properly if your workforce is not as diverse as the communities you want to serve. New ideas do not stem from like-mindedness and uniformity but from diversity, whether it is gender, experience, or background. In our very competitive economies, diversity is an advantage that you need to nurture and that you need to grow. Fifty-fifty just makes good business sense. Every idea and every talent are needed to contribute to our company’s challenge of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050,” added Soussi.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme, ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world’, highlights the importance of gender equality and diversity in the workplace as businesses bounce back from the economic impact of the pandemic.
Soussi reiterated that Engie, which is one of the world’s top 30 companies in gender equality, has launched its ‘Fifty-Fifty Project’ last year, which aims to achieve parity in management by 2030, compared to 24 percent in 2019. The company was also the first of the top 40 French companies to name a woman as CEO, and still is the only one today.
She said: “We aim to empower the women of our workforce by fostering exchange and affirming their leadership, for instance through the WIN network and the Mentoring for Engie women programme. Among French companies, Engie also has one of highest rates of feminisation of its top management, with 40 percent of women in its executive committee. In the group, women are well represented in senior management, including top leadership positions in operational entities, renewable energy, gas storage and China operations. Although we have made significant progress over the years, we still have ambitious targets to make our company more inclusive and welcoming to women. We are dedicated to increase the share of women in our workforce and, most of all, to have more women managers in our ranks”.
As a female leader in the energy sector, Soussi also had her own share of challenges in navigating a male-dominated industry.
“After more than 13 years in the field, I have routinely encountered underrepresentation in management positions, questioning looks when I entered a meeting room where I was the only woman, and having to prove myself twice as hard when competing for a leadership position with a male colleague. To overcome these challenges on a personal level, I had to have confidence in myself and in the skill sets that brought me to where I am today and to overcome my self-doubts and imposter syndrome. On a business-wide level, it requires consistent advocacy for female talent to close the gender gap. We need to recognise that women do not have to be better than men to take on positions of responsibility, but that gender equality benefits all sides and falls in line with fundamental values of diversity, inclusivity, and justice,” said Soussi.
Her advice to women aspiring to become good leaders in the workplace: Believe in their ability, latch on every opportunity, be a good team player, and build a profile even in areas outside their expertise and comfortzone.
“I would also advise them to practice mentorship and to build a strong network. A mentor will coach you on how to grow professionally, help achieve your goals and open doors to new opportunities. Networking enables greater learning and helps build a good support system. If we break the barrier and normalise women in leadership positions, we can also brush the engrained and outdated perceptions that still linger in our industry,” Soussi added.
