| Summary: | This thesis shows how, and to what extent, the British offshore industry affected the lives of women in North East of Scotland from the 1970s to the start of the new millennium. It presents new evidence, in the form of oral history life story interviews, which prove the long and sustained impact that women have had upon the industry, clarifying previous misunderstandings by scholars and politicians and revealing for the first time, a chronology of women’s history offshore. This thesis remedies the fact that the history of the British North Sea oil industry has almost exclusively been portrayed from the perspective of male employees and without recourse to gender analysis. My argument is that this has impeded not only discussion of women’s historical contributions, but also critical reflection upon men’s experiences of the industry. My approach to writing the history of the British North Sea oil industry promotes and facilitates the inclusion of women’s previously unrecorded experiences. It also reinterprets many of the perceived ‘facts’ of men’s experiences. By presenting new empirical evidence and applying a gendered analysis to it this thesis makes an original contribution to scholarship and opens up an exciting field for further research.
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