James Brown's 1966 ballad, “It's A Man's Man's Man's World,” was once characterized by Rolling Stone magazine as having “biblically chauvinistic lyrics.” It's a pretty good bet that Gloria Steinem would agree.

Oil and gas—virtually no one would disagree—has traditionally been a man's world.

In the office, women have long been active in oil and gas accounting and finance, human resources, legal, investor relations and in the land department.

Several run their own companies, employing dozens of landmen and women. A few sit on corporate boards.

And, a very few have risen to the top. Think of Lisa Stewart, chief executive of Sheridan Production Partners, who regularly swings oil and gas acquisitions in the billions; or Stacey Schusterman, chairman and chief executive officer of Samson Energy Co. LLC; or Janet Clark, longtime chief financial officer of Marathon Oil Corp.

Today, women are increasingly working in field operations as well. Before the manly legacy of the industry is permanently catalogued as a James Brown-type lyric, consider this: Women claimed nearly half of new oil and gas jobs filled in the first quarter of 2013.

That's a brand new bag for the oil and gas business.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the oil and gas sector added 3,900 jobs between January 1, 2013, and March 31, 2013, 46% of which were filled by women. That's an all-time quarterly high.

In the previous quarter, October 1 through December 31, 2012, only 30% of oil and gas new hires were women.

Toiling in the broiling heat of the Eagle Ford or the bitter cold of the Bakken is simply not for most people. Remember reading recently about all of those job openings in oil and gas?

Nevertheless, federal labor statistics indicate that more women than ever before are filling positions not only in the front office but also in the field.

In fact, the labor bureau reports that from 2004 through 2012, the number of women working in oil and gas support positions (legal, financial, management and other office jobs) increased from 15,500 to 31,000. Likewise, mining and logging jobs (positions in the field focused on oil and gas extraction) filled by women jumped from 33,000 to almost 50,000 during the same time period.

And there's more: Federal and private studies also indicate that women are expected to enter the workforce at a greater rate than men during the next decade, indicating this is a long-term trend.

The money is the lure, particularly for women who are struggling to get by working menial jobs. Take the case of Linda Trujillo, a single mother of three, who was interviewed on the ABC News website. Trujillo moved from New Mexico to Kansas to get a taste of the oil boom and the healthier pay check that goes with it.

Formerly a fast-food worker, Trujillo used the money from her tax return to acquire a license to drive heavy construction equipment. Today, she's the only woman on a six-person drilling crew, according to the report.

“I needed to make something better for my kids,” Trujillo says.

And then, for Trujillo and other women like her, there's the part about proving you are tough enough. Houston-based Precision Drilling Corp. has a “Toughneck” quiz on its website. As you might expect from its title, this true-or-false quiz is designed to determine if interested parties have the mettle to work in the oil patch. Here's a trio of questions from the Precision Driling quiz that many would surely answer “false.” “I prefer to work outside, even in bad weather.” “I can lift 80-100 pounds many times in a day.” “I can work 12-plus hour shifts for 14 days or longer.” The website has a message board that affords women who work in the oilfield the opportunity to talk about what is on their minds.

The message-board topics address workplace issues head-on, seldom bothering to dance around the ritual of political correctness. Here's what one of the participants wrote: “I do this job because it's challenging, the money is good, and I get to be outside instead of locked in an office. The notion that women are a hazard or a distraction in the oilfield is a common misconception that gets old.”

Again, Gloria Steinem would have to agree.