Why is it that extractive industries often bring massive short-term benefits to 'boom towns' but harm weaker social groups, including women, in the process? This study shows that two oil projects (the US$3 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Export Oil Pipeline 'BTC' in Azerbaijan and Georgia and the Sakhalin II oil and gas projects on Sakhalin Island) have caused considerable social and gender difficulties in local communities.