Each stage is elaborated below w.r.t. the professional aspirations and challenges that are typical for a woman who is pursuing some profession and is gainfully employed with an organisation:

1. ENTRY STAGE (AGE 20 TO 29 YEARS)

This stage is when a woman completes her studies and gets employed at an organisation. During this first stage, a person learns the basic elements of the job and where they fit within an organization. The entry period also includes the need for initial acceptance by new colleagues, peers, and seniors, learning the job and gaining the first tangible evidence of success or failure in the real world. It is a time which begins with uncertainties, anxieties and risks.

     2. CAREER GROWTH STAGE (30 TO 35 YEARS)

This stage corresponds with young adulthood which is the time for stabilizing, consolidating, building momentum and moving up. Efforts are made to secure a long-term place in the chosen career. At this stage, a woman employee who has high potential and also has high aspirations to grow in her career is able to establish her foothold in the organisation through laudable achievements and/ or demonstration of her competence at opportune times. At this stage, a woman professional also tends to establish her family life through marriage and maternity over 3-5 years.

    3. RE-ENTRY STAGE (35 TO 45 YEARS)

Traditionally, marriage, maternity, and mobility have been the three major factors that either pull women away from their progressive career track or slow down their progress rate. Many high-potential women who choose not to give away their jobs, tend to take long sabbaticals or settle for a position/ role having lesser responsibilities or low stakes. This helps them to cope up with additional family responsibilities such as settling with new family, raising children, care for ailing parents etc. Post this period, many women either strive to re-establish their career, or choose to permanently settle at work below their level of competence. This is the time when organizational factors play an important role in shaping up their decisions – factors like existence of stereotypes, work hours, office location, presence of mentors, internal infrastructure etc. Lately, companies are realizing and examining the loss of talent due to the untimely exit of capable women from workspaces at this stage. In return, the organisation loses its diversity quotient.

Those women who chose to come back to their profession, and re-establish their foothold rise to this stage of Re-entry. This corresponds with the life stage of early parenthood, wherein women seek external help/ support structure for managing family responsibilities, while balancing their work responsibilities.

Research studies in this space show that women struggle to return to their career and, that the skills of professional women can be better utilised if they chose to return to work after the breaks they willingly take to support their families. Women who make a successful transition through the re-entry stage, are able to assume greater responsibilities and get rewards. For others, it may be a time for reassessment, job changes, adjustment of priorities or the pursuit of alternative lifestyles.

      4. RISING STAGE (45 TO 60 YEARS)

The high-potential women continue to grow through their careers and are ready to take-up higher professional responsibilities while transitioning from middle adulthood to late adulthood. This career stage corresponds with the life stage when the children are more independent, and other domestic matters are fairly streamlined.

At this career stage, a woman employee can teach others based on her knowledge and experience gained during the previous stages. With replenished confidence, and new aspirations, women at this stage aspire for leadership roles and reach the top-management levels in organizational hierarchy, even up to the board positions.

Industry Perspective:

Employment in the Oil & Gas sector has traditionally been characterized by its remote working environment and enduring physical labour during long shifts. In the past, this has contributed to discouraging women from working in the industry, especially if they have a family and children to take care of. Although the trend is changing, and worldwide the women’s representation in the Oil & Gas sector is increasing year on year, the progress has been glacial. Women make up just 26.7% of all oil and gas industry profiles on the professional networking site. That’s the lowest percentage of any of the dozen industries examined; Healthcare had the largest percentage, at about 59.8%, and tech came in at the middle of the pack, at 30.6%. Women are rare at the board level, too. About 14% of the boards of the 200 top global utilities include women, for example, and only 5% in the U.S., according to a recent report from Ernst and Young. According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), a vast opportunity exists for the oil and natural gas industry to attract, retain, and develop lifelong careers for women and minorities. Nearly 1.9 million job opportunities are projected in the oil & natural gas and petrochemical industries through 2035. Women and minority workers represent a critically vital and available talent pool to help meet the demands of the projected growth and expansion.

In reference to the research diagnostics mentioned earlier, female representation in senior management significantly matters because woman talent is an untapped foray, and by making sure that a better share of women potential is developed further, it would add to our overall potential pool of leaders within the organisation. Hence, there is a business case for strategically developing leadership skills of our women employees, to enhance the gender diversity within our Corporation.

If more, women are to reach senior positions, they have to be present in the pipeline that feeds those positions. As an organisation, we need to understand where the obstacles to broader gender diversity lie. Development of women’s leadership pipeline requires assessment of cultural and organizational issues that prevent them from moving through the corporate pipeline. As suggested by researchers, the common plot for lesser number of women leaders in organisations, includes ongoing prejudice, negative stereotypes, challenges of balancing career and family, and lack of appropriate network.

If (and that’s a BIG IF) organisations are keen to develop women leaders, suitable interventions may be designed around each of the four career stages of women employees with the following organisational goals:

ORGANISATIONAL GOALS

1. Enhancing gender diversity and achieving a balanced representation of both genders across the organizational hierarchy

2. Enhancing the talent pool of the Corporation through exploring the untapped potential of high-potential women

3. Developing competencies of women employees to support their professional aspirations

4. Developing women leaders in the organisation for synergizing the top-management composition with complimentary styles of leadership, influence, negotiations, and communication.

5. Establishing physical, psychological and organizational support structures for women employees to balance their various personal and professional responsibilities.

There has to be a strategic focus on developing women leaders around each of the four career stages in sync with the life stages, of women employees to fulfill the stated objectives

NURTURE | Intervention at Career Entry Stage

BALANCE | Intervention at Career Growth Stage

REPOSITION | Intervention at Career Re-entry Stage

LEAD | Intervention at Career Rising Stage

NURTURE | Intervention-I at Career Entry Stage

Woman talent is an untapped foray, and by making sure that a better share of women potential is developed further, it would add to the overall potential pool of leaders within the organisation. Looking at the merit of the business case for strategically developing the leadership skills of our women employees, it becomes imperative to enhance gender diversity within the Corporation.

If more women are to reach senior positions in the organizational hierarchy, they have to be present in the pipeline that feeds those positions. The leadership pipeline starts at the entry-level, and is replenished every year through entry-level recruitments of new officers.

At the Entry Stage, a clear understanding of the needs and expectations of/from the women employees through an “Internal Diagnostic Study”, would form the foundation for suitably addressing the long-term needs and aspirations of young women officers. The diagnostics would also provide insights on designing long-term sustainable interventions to fulfill organizational goals, stated previously. It would then be appropriate to design programs that aim towards nurturing the young minds. These programs would primarily revolve around discovering one’s potential, natural strengths and areas of concern, bringing clarity of purpose and personal vision in the long term etc.

Further on the basis of the diagnostic study results, specialized development programs may be designed for young women officers.

BALANCE | Intervention-II at Career Growth Stage

The CAREER GROWTH STAGE comprises of channelizing one’s (women’s) efforts towards stabilizing, consolidating, building momentum and preparing to move up the organizational ladder. Efforts are made to secure a long-term place in the chosen career. At this stage, a woman employee who has high potential and also has high aspirations to grow in her career, is able to establish her foothold in the organisation through laudable achievements and/ or demonstration of her competence at opportune times. At this stage, a woman professional also tends to establish her family life through marriage and maternity over 3-5 years.

In Asian cultures, and in India particularly, women tend to assume major responsibility for managing domestic affairs and raising children. While urbanization has led to a rise in nuclear families with dual-income sources, the domestic responsibilities are either being shared by other family members or being outsourced to support staff. However, factors like bearing and raising children, responsibilities of ageing parents etc. are the major reasons, generally quoted by women, that either halt or slow down the career progression of women inevitably. This is the stage where women are parallelly experiencing marriage and maternity stages as well, and generally strive to cope with additional family responsibilities such as settling with new family, raising children, care for ailing parents etc. As a result, at this stage, women tend to prioritise personal responsibilities over professional responsibilities.

This would form a critical point for organizational intervention in terms of creating physical and psychological support structures for empowering women officers to strike a balance between personal and professional responsibilities.

The stage of Career Growth is the right stage to introduce the following two interventions, simultaneously.

1. Career Pathing

At this stage, women officers may be introduced to the concept of intentional career pathing, so as to plan their long term career goals. This would include identifying and defining career anchors, milestones and goals. This would also include programs on building certain skills which would take them a long way in setting a strong foundation for a successful professional life.

      2. Maternity Support Program

In addition to the above present measures, there is also a need to design suitable intervention to address the intrinsic need of women officers w.r.t. help/ guidance on planning for maternity stage. It is a possibility that a ‘high-potential woman at her Career Growth Stage’, may be undergoing additional stress of deciding the right time to plan for marriage/ maternity.

In this context, the psychological questions at this stage for a woman professional would be:

• What would happen to my career if I start a family?

• What is the right time to plan for maternity, considering factors like present success in career, physiological age of self, ageing parents, societal pressures etc.?

• Would maternity derail me from my present path of a successful career?

• How should I prepare myself physiologically for the maternity period?

• What would be the financial implications of my decision?

A preemptive intervention to support women officers in this process is highly recommended and needed too. Women need to be encouraged to think about how they will balance family and professional goals and make plans accordingly.

REPOSITION | Intervention-III at Career Re-entry Stage

As per prevailing beliefs, this stage poses most struggles for any woman professional who has potential and aspirations for establishing a fulfilling career as well as a fulfilling personal life.

Many high-potential women chose not to give away their jobs, rather decide to take long sabbaticals or settle for a position/ role having lesser responsibilities or low stakes. This helps them to cope up with additional family responsibilities such as settling with new family, raising children, care for ailing parents etc. Post this period, many women either strive to re-establish their career, or chose to permanently settle at work below their level of competence.

Those women who chose to come back to their profession, and re-establish their foothold rise to this stage of Re-entry. This corresponds with the life stage of early parenthood, wherein women seek external help/ support structure for managing family responsibilities while balancing their work responsibilities.

Policies like the introduction of the Child Care Leave policy, enhanced Maternity Leave policy, medical insurance coverage for dependents etc. have been welcomed by women employees as a great support by their organisations during the peculiar yet important life stage of raising a family.

However, during some informal discussions held with few women officers, it has been expressed by them that they feel a gap in support from the company at the re-entry stage. The respondents indicated the following gaps they are facing when returning to work with restored focus and zeal:

1. Need to re-establish oneself as a meritorious professional

2. Need to upgrade technical skills in the domain area

3. Need clarity in personal vision and aspirations

4. There need to have social support structures around for better balancing domestic and professional commitments

Thus, there is a strong case for the organisations to build a sustainable intervention focused on fulfilling the above needs of the women officers.

LEAD | Intervention-IV at Career Rising Stage

The Career Rising Stage generally arrives for women officers in their forties. This is a stage, when the children are more independent, and other domestic matters are fairly streamlined. A woman professional feels that she is psychologically ready and equipped with experience and expertise to take up higher professional responsibilities and assume leadership roles at higher organizational hierarchy.

In India, the notion that women must take care of the family is particularly strong. A significant body of research shows that for women, the subtle gender bias that persists in organizations and in society disrupts the learning cycle at the heart of becoming a leader. Integrating leadership into one’s core identity is particularly challenging for women, who must establish credibility in a culture that is deeply conflicted about whether, when, and how they should exercise authority.

There are many reasons for the scarce representation of women in senior leadership positions. Archaic cultural stereotypes on the roles of men and women in society are largely to blame, while widespread illiteracy and socio-economic problems further worsen the problem.

Studies have linked gender-diverse boards with better financial performance, better governance, increased innovation, and improved opportunities for other women within the affected companies. To address current business and socio-demographic challenges, diversity in the senior leadership of organization correlates with better performance and more sustainability in the long run. An analysis of return on equity (ROE) data of top 100 Indian companies (BSE 100) by Randstad, a leading HR services provider, says that companies with women on their boards have a positive impact on ROE.

In Indian Oil & Gas Sector, the statistics reveal that organisations are facing a trend of diminishing women’s representation in senior management grades and above. The organisations are also facing a persisting challenge of creating a strong leadership pipeline of women. Many women employees have meritoriously reached the senior management cadre (up to GM and ED positions before superannuation), however, the numbers have been scanty and the rate of progression has been glacial.

Commonly expressed by women professionals at this stage, they feel a need to address the following gaps:

1. Need to enhance behavioral skills and leadership skills for taking on higher responsibilities

2. Work on social skills to increase their social network within and outside the company

3. Need to have an unbiased and unprejudiced coach/ mentor who can support and guide their transformation journey

Thus, there is a strong case for the organisation to build a sustainable intervention focused on fulfilling the above needs of the women officers.

It is suggested to design a modular development program for the women employees in a pre-leadership grade before an employee assumes charge as department head etc. for heading a bigger region or business unit. At the same time, at middle leadership levels, women may already be leading smaller teams, with which they would be able to learn and apply the learnings obtained during the program.

REFERENCES:
1. Life-Cycle Labor Force Participation of Married Women: Historical Evidence And Implications; Claudia Goldin, NBER Working Paper Series, Working Paper No. 1251, 1983 
2. Gender and Leadership Styles: A Conceptual Framework For Analysis; By AsimaMushtaq, Dr. IshtiaqHussainQureshi, The Business School,University of Kashmir Srinagar- J&K India; International Journal Of Business Quantitative Economics and Applied Management Research
3. Super’s Career Stages and the Decision to Change Careers; Roslyn Smart and Candida Peterson; Journal of Vocational Behavior 51, 358–374 (1997) Article No. VB961544
4. Women and Minorities In The Oil And Natural Gas Industry; American Petroleum Institute 2015
5. Female Leadership: Constructing A Framework For Women’s Entrepreneurship; Janet L. Nixdorff; The George Washington University
6. Women Matter 2016: Reinventing the workplace to unlock the potential of gender diversity; McKinsey & Company 2016
7. Women Matter: An Asian Perspective; McKinsey & Company 2012
8. Women “Take Care,” Men “Take Charge:”; Catalyst 2005
9. Women on Boards – A study by Biz Divas and Khaitan & Co., 2014
10. Women execs say male mentors aren’t pushing female mentee hard enough; HRDiveValerie Bolden-Barrett, 2017
11. The Paula Principle | Working women operate below their level of competence; By Tom Schuller
12. India Inc.: From Intention to Impact; Catalyst 2015
13. Development of Women’s Career Pattern in Relation of Employment; Anita Racene; Baltic Journal of Career Education and Management
14. www.pwc.com/femalemillennial; The female millennial: A new era of talent; PwC