“Mobilogue”: Women, the Office, and the Oil Industry: Women’s Changing Place in the Office

Women continued to contribute and participate in the oil industry after World War II. This chapter explores the role of women working in the offices of petroleum companies and how they contributed to the culture of the work place. Some oil companies formed women’s groups for education and culture building for female employees across the company. An example is “Distafforum” that was founded at Mobile. “The Distaffforum,” which was formerly “The Women’s Discussion Group at Mobil,” brought in speakers and held activities for female employees and functioned much like the Desk and Derrick clubs that were for the public. Within the internal files and Human Resources files at oil companies like Mobil, historians can read about episodes were female employees were advocating for themselves. One such event was when female employees petitioned the dress code to wear pants suits and newer fashions. Within the Mobil company there were internal publications which tried to advocate for traditional gender roles for employees, but female readers and employees wrote strong criticisms voicing their displeasure to the editors. With women’s rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s, women working in petroleum geology amplified their criticisms of their treatment in the oil industry.