Nov 21, 2023
This resource has been prepared with information from our 2023 Diversity Disclosure Practices: Diversity and leadership at Canadian public companies report.
Canada’s oil and gas sector has consistently ranked in the lowest tier of TSX-listed companies for both the average number and average percentage of women directors and women senior executives. The broader energy services sector hasn’t done much better, sitting in the middle of the pack for average number — though still among the lowest for average percentage — of women executive officers, and at or near the bottom for number and percentage of women directors. While their results have improved slowly, they still lag well behind most other industries in improving the diversity of their corporate leadership.
The disparity in male and female representation in these sectors isn’t restricted to boards or senior executive positions. Overall, women make up only about one-fifth of the wider Canadian energy sector workforce. Despite more recent efforts to increase the recruitment and retention of women, this figure has barely changed in a decade.
Beyond the disappointing raw numbers, the distribution of women between different roles is a significant factor in limiting advancement. In entry-level business and administrative roles, women’s representation is just under half; by the executive level for such roles, it thins out to about a quarter. Most pressing, though, is the scarcity of women in entry-level technical and operations roles. These jobs are critical stepping stones to promotion in this industry, meaning that very few have the opportunity to gain the skills and experience required to move up the ladder at all.
Many of the obstacles that women in energy face on their road to senior management are not unique to the industry: poor work/life balance, pay disparities, lack of mentors and role models, lack of flexible work policies and opaque evaluation and promotion practices. Reducing these longstanding challenges will be critical for the industry to avoid falling further behind on gender diversity.
Latest diversity data
According to Osler’s 2023 Diversity Disclosure Practices survey of reported disclosures from all TSX-listed firms, women in the oil and gas sector held 25% of all director positions as of mid-year 2023, up from 23% the previous year. This compared to 28.5% for the TSX as a whole (based on 613 companies reporting), 41% for the highest-ranking sector (utilities and pipelines), and 38.2% for companies on the S&P/TSX 60 (53 reporting). On a per-board basis, the number of women directors was 2.26 for TSX-listed companies overall as of mid-year 2023, but just 1.9 for the oil and gas sector.
Breakdown of number and percentages of women directors in 2023
Looking at the C-suite, the percentage of women executives in oil and gas as of mid-year 2023 was 15% — unchanged from last year — compared to 20.8% among TSX-listed companies overall (based on 568 companies reporting), 34% for the leading sector (communication and media), and 27% for S&P/TSX 60 companies (51 reporting). The average number of women executives per company in the sector was 1.02, the lowest figure among 13 industries examined in the report.
Breakdown of number and percentages of women executive officers in 2023
For the energy services industry, the percentages compare less favourably to other TSX-listed firms with regard to women director diversity levels. Osler’s report shows that 21% of directors at energy services companies are women (up from 18% the previous year), compared to 28.5% for TSX-listed companies as a whole. On a per-board basis, the number of women directors was also much lower for the industry (at 1.6) than the average for TSX-listed companies of 2.26.
Breakdown of number and percentages of women directors in 2023
The Osler report shows that 16% of executive officers in energy services were women, an increase of three percentage points over last year, compared to 20.8% for TSX-listed companies. On a per-company basis, the industry average of 2.57 — a massive leap from just 1.97 last year — actually exceeds the TSX-listed firm average of 1.99.
Breakdown of number and percentages of women executive officers in 2023
Trends since 2015
In 2015, the first year that Osler compiled this information, women directors held just 6% of board positions in oil and gas. Since then, the percentage has more than quadrupled (to 25%), albeit from a very low starting point. This far exceeds the average overall TSX-listed company gain (to 28.5% from around 12%) in the same period.
When it comes to representation of women executive officers, the gains are much smaller — up just six percentage points in mid-year 2023 compared to 2015, when it was 9%.
For energy services, which was tracked as a separate category starting in 2019, women held just 11% of board seats. That figure has nearly doubled since then, to 21%, while the average TSX-listed company improved from 19% to 28.5% over that time.
Women executive officers in the industry doubled in those years, from 8% to 16%. Though starting at a much lower number, that increase compares favourably to the average TSX-listed company, which stood at 16.8% in 2019 and reached 20.8% in 2023.
Best practices and sector leaders
Osler’s research has identified several Canadian energy companies that are consistent leaders in best practices to support these efforts. These include
- AltaGas Ltd. — aspirational goals for gender diversity in senior leadership which it has met and improved upon several times; employee-led, executive-sponsored employee resource groups that support recruitment, retention, professional development and mentorship; a flexible work policy that allows for fully remote and hybrid working, as well as part-time and compressed work weeks
- MEG Energy Corp. — tying part of CEO compensation to performance objectives related to inclusion and diversity, as well as executing a policy that requires the company to set measurable objectives for improving diversity, equity and inclusion across all levels
- Enbridge Inc. — targets for executive officers from visible minorities; an Indigenous Reconciliation Action Plan, including 22 measurable commitments across the company’s four core businesses; a company-wide Diversity Dashboard that tracks and reports progress toward workforce representation goals
- Suncor Energy Inc. — internal Inclusion and Diversity Council made up of senior leaders from across the organization, focusing on areas including unconscious bias training, consciously promoting culture change through policies that remove systemic barriers and continued improvements to recruitment processes
Moving forward, energy companies should focus on increasing gender diversity at all levels of their organizations to create a more robust pipeline of future senior leaders. This will require a holistic examination of their culture, flexible work policies, and recruitment strategies and processes, as well as increasingly ambitious diversity targets.