‘Create stand-alone gender policy in petroleum value chain’

Participants at  a  women’s dialogue on the petroleum value chain held in Takoradi in the Western Region yesterday, proposed to the Petroleum Commission (PC)  to create  a stand- alone gender policy strategy  by 2025.

They also urged PC to give 30 percent of allocation to women under the local content Law by 2025.

Again, they requested that, the 10 percent allocation for women’s development under the Local content Fund, should be backed   by a legislation.

Furthermore, the government should enforce the payment of 10 percent on contracts awarded to the local content Fund. There should also be capacity buildingfor women/girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, business compliance, job fairs and entrepreneurship, they added.

The participants, including women advocates, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and journalists at dialogue, assessed  progress made towards increasing women’s active involvement  in local content and participation, inclusive business legal framework  in the petroleum value chain.

The dialogue was organised by WiLDAF Ghana in collaboration with Friends of Nation (FON) and supported  by Oxfam Ghana.

In  a presentation, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of  Cirilo Enterprise Consult, Ms Alice  Ama Darko, said  achieving  inclusivity  in the petroleum value chain  was  in  line with  goal five of the Sustainable Development Goals  (SDGs)  on gender equality.

She told participants that the SDGs also aimed at ending all forms of discrimination against women and ensuring full participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making.

Making a case for  women’s  active participation in the oil and gas  sector, Ms Darko mentioned procurement activities to include  chase boats, supply  of  communication  equipment,  cooling systems, ventilation systems, computers and accessories, supply of  natural drinking  water,  catering services and  blasting.

She said, these activities were reserved for indigenous Ghanaian businesses andthat,   women could to take advantage and become suppliers to   the sector.

“These are no -go area for foreign companies, and that is good news. We have some areas where some indigenous Ghanaian companies can participates in the sector and do some business,” Ms Darko said.

On  challenges, she  noted  there were  no  known  policies  or  cultural barriers  that barred women in  the procurement activities in a sector.

However, the consultant reported that, some  negative perceptions hindered women from participating  in the  activities, revealing  that,  some  companies thought women did not  have enough capabilities  and financial  muscle   to handle to certain  jobs. 

Ms Darko said  “Even though we have women who have the technical expertise, they think that they just  cannot compete with the men. Also, they have lack of interest  to engage  women in procurement activities in spite of existing  policies. They are reluctant to engage. Some companies have  very nice procurement policies that favour  women but,  they  are   just  in documents.” 

She argued that investors and buyers were now demanding inclusivity, stressing that “if you employ more women, your business becomes more attractive to buyers and investors.” 

Ms Darko mentioned that social impacts   was becoming more important in procurement processes and was a  good boost for companies.

Chairperson  of WiLDAF Ghana, Ms Efua Brown,  noted that, globally,  gender issues had  been  overlooked, but, believed there should be a  deliberate policy, short- term to long term,  for more inclusivity in the oil and gas sector for  women  to    benefit from opportunities in the petroleum value chain.