Gaslighted

Christine Williams’s book provides a compelling exploration of why the 'leaky pipeline' is a poor metaphor to explain persistent low gender and racial diversity in the oil and gas industry. It reveals how corporate practices lead to stark inequities not only in recruitment but also in employee retention after hiring. Gaslighted provides lessons for both industry and academia to evaluate how organizational culture and actions can contribute to demoralizing work environments.—Erika Marin-Spiotta, Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Fellow of the American Geophysical Union  If companies care so much about diversity and inclusion, why are they making so little progress? Williams provides a compelling answer—employees, the public, and academic researchers are gaslighted by the diversity statements, diversity training, and diversity celebrations when none of these shiny objects alters the fundamental reason why progress is so slow. As Williams shows in her decade-long study of the oil and gas industry, during periods of downsizing, it is mostly young white men who keep their jobs, while everyone else faces heightened job insecurity. True corporate commitment to change will require changing employment practices so that no they longer advantage those already in positions of power.—Shelley Correll, Professor of Sociology and Director of VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab, Stanford University  Despite major advances for women in professions like law and medicine over recent decades, many STEM fields remain stubbornly male-dominated. In this riveting, deeply researched study of the US oil and gas industry, Williams helps us understand why. Despite touting their commitment to 'diversity' and regularly recruiting women geoscientists—albeit on a racially exclusive basis—during boom periods, oil and gas companies disproportionately lay off those same women during industry downturns. Moreover, the few survivors of such downsizing confront a toxic workplace culture that is pervaded by sexist stereotypes and blatant hostility to motherhood. Yet protests are rare amid the constant threat of future layoffs. This sobering book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of gender equality in the workplace.—Ruth Milkman, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, and author of On Gender, Labor, and Inequality Christine Williams suffuses the text with an outrage that reminds us that these are human beings at the center of this story.—Allison Pugh, author of The Tumbleweed Society: Working and Caring in an Age of Insecurity A well-written book with powerful arguments.—Adia Harvey Wingfield, Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Arts and Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis