Name: Oil companies want you to think they're feminist. It's BS.
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Oil companies want you to think they're feminist. It's BS.

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PublishedMar 09, 2021TopicShare/RepublishMonday was International Women’s Day, and oil companies want you to know — they’re feminists, too! , , and even the , the oil industry’s biggest lobbying group, posted messages about the importance of women in the oil and gas industry. “Here’s to the women making a difference at Chevron,” tweeted the Chevron account.Symbolic gestures of corporate solidarity are nothing new for the oil and gas industry. Last year, in a particularly cringe-worthy commemoration of International Women’s Day, one Shell gas station run by two women temporarily added an apostrophe to its logo, becoming . The stunt quickly became the object of Twitter mockery (“more women gas pumps!” said ). Last summer, Shell, BP, and Chevron similarly against racism, declaring themselves allies of the Black Lives Matter movement.Many of the oil companies’ recent posts allude to their inclusion of women in the workforce; the Canadian oil magnate Enbridge, for example, pointed to its goal of having 40 percent women in the workplace and on the board of directors by 2025, while Shell tweeted an article highlighting women in positions of power at the company. But oil companies’ claims to anti-racism or feminism ring hollow — even with women at the helm — when the effects of oil and gas extraction and climate change fall disproportionately on women, particularly women of color.For instance, women make up displaced by climate change, according to the United Nations. Women are more likely to die in , including heat waves, according to studies on France, China, and India, and in tropical cyclones, according to studies on Bangladesh and the Philippines. Climate change is also tied to pregnancy risks — people exposed to or air pollution from are more likely to have underweight, stillborn, or preterm babies, with Black and Hispanic pregnant people experiencing the worst impacts.To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider to allow ads on Grist.Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, is a case study in how natural disasters hit women hardest. A by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that recovery policies following the storm , resulting in displacement. has been linked to violence against women, and that was similarly the case after Katrina, when women experienced higher rates of and .Oil and gas infrastructure is also tied to gender-based and sexual violence. Company-owned housing for fossil fuel workers known as “man camps” are well-documented sites of and , and is one of the factors the of Indigenous women. In a to President Biden urging the cancellation of the Keystone XL and Line 3 pipelines, Indigenous women leaders wrote, “We still have daughters, aunties, mothers, cousins, and two-spirit relatives who have never been found and whose perpetrators have never been brought to justice.”The irony is particularly stark when you consider that International Women’s Day originated out of a radical, meant to highlight the insecurities faced by women workers. While oil companies celebrate milestones of installing women in leadership positions with cutesy tweets, women around the world continue to suffer assault, displacement, and death due to the effects of oil extraction. All the hashtags in the world can’t erase that.To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider to allow ads on Grist.The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice.&nbsp;Our in-depth approach to solutions-based journalism takes time and proactive planning, which is why Grist depends on reader support. Your gifts keep our unbiased, nonprofit news site free. Donate today, and your gift will be matched dollar for dollar.&nbsp;The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. Donate today, and your gift will be matched dollar for dollar.&nbsp;To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider to allow ads on Grist.Sponsored by Friends of the Columbia Gorge

PublishedMar 09, 2021TopicShare/RepublishMonday was International Women’s Day, and oil companies want you to know — they’re feminists, too! , , and even the , the oil industry’s biggest lobbying group, posted messages about the importance of women in the oil and gas industry. “Here’s to the women making a difference at Chevron,” tweeted the Chevron account.Symbolic gestures of corporate solidarity are nothing new for the oil and gas industry. Last year, in a particularly cringe-worthy commemoration of International Women’s Day, one Shell gas station run by two women temporarily added an...

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Alexandria Herr

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Oil companies want you to think they're feminist. It's BS.

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