Why Can't a Woman Be More Like A Man?
I grew up in a small town in Central Texas. During the summer, one of my greatest thrills was to visit my aunt and uncle in Fort Worth, Texas. These visits always included a live theatre performance at Casa Mañana . Among my favorites productions was My Fair Lady! It was the elegant Professor Harold Hill in a moment of complete and total frustration that sang…”Why Can’t a woman be more like a man. Men are so honest so thoroughly square: eternally noble, historically fair, who when you win will always give your back at pat. Well why can’t a woman be like that?”
Well, there are times I have asked myself that very question. Why can’t a woman be more like a man? I am working in a male dominated field, and I will attribute a large part of my success to the great cooperation I have received from my male counterpoints. If I’m having a mechanical issue with an oilfield heater my engineer offers to run to the field with me and check it out. If you have read my bio then you know about the guys I lovely refer to as my Bubba’s. Early on, I called one to ask a question regarding my work as an operator and proper procedure. He cut to the heart of the issue, gave me his candid read of the situation and said , “Are you the operator of that well? Then take charge and tell everyone else to go to H***!” He was right! I needed to believe in myself enough to know that as long as I was honest and moving the project forward I was on the right track.
On another occasion, when I hit a roadblock and was in need of some advice or a referral. I reached out to a number of professional women in the oil and gas industry. Based on their reaction you would have thought I just had a fight with my husband. They were most supportive with words like…”you are so strong I know you’ll get through this” and “you constantly amaze me with your determination. I know you’ll find a way to fix this one too.” And while their words were comforting, I can’t say they were the least bit helpful. What I was hoping for is someone would open their “rolodex” and share a contact. Of the half-dozen women I went to only one immediately said I know whom you need to call. Now that’s networking!
In my first blog I mentioned I was breaking my final glass ceiling. If as women we are going to lock arms and march forward as oil operators, then we need to be equally as open with our resources. That’s how you shatter glass ceilings…taking what we bring to the table as women and blending it with confidence and determination of a man.
