Our most high-profile and richest mining magnate is a woman, but the representation of women at the senior level of the mining and resources sector hardly runs any deeper than that.
And next week’s high-profile Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum highlights that point: all 47 speakers on the preliminary conference program are male.
A spokesperson from the Kalgoorlie event assured me there is no bias against women at the conference. The companies featured are selected on merit (with 45 chosen from the 120 or so that applied) and the companies themselves nominate which individuals will present – usually the CEO or managing director. He added that around 20% of delegates in 2012 were female and they expect a stronger turnout from women among the more than 2000 registered attendees this year. Meanwhile Diggers & Dealers is owned by a woman, Kate Stokes, and Gina Rinehart has been twice recognised in the organisation’s industry awards.
To get a female delegate turnout of 20% would not be a bad result when you consider the overall participation of women in the industry. According to ABS data the representation of women in the mining workforce has grown from just 11% to 14% since 1998. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency finds that figure to be higher at 17%, but only covers its reporting organisations – those with 100 employees or more. Meanwhile, also according to WGEA figures, women account for just 13.7% of total female managers, compared to the 34.4% figure reported for all organisations reporting to the agency.
Go to the even more senior ranks and women are harder to find. Just 7.5% of directorships at ‘materials’ companies (which includes mining) on the ASX 200 are held by women. Fortescue Metals only recently appointed its first woman to its board (Elizabeth Gaines), the last ASX 50 company to do so.
A June 2013 report from the Minerals Council of Australia found that on current predictions, Australia may not be able to supply enough technicians, geologists, mining engineers and other skills to meet the sector’s needs. This industry clearly needs to continually expand its talent pool.
There are signs mining employers appreciate the need to acquire more female talent. According to WGEA 62% of mining reporting agencies provide paid maternity leave, compared to 51% across all industries. From there, 23.1% of the remaining mining companies that do not currently offer such entitlements plan to do so in the next 12 weeks, compared to just 5.1% of the all reporting organisations.
And the Australian Women in Resources Alliance is working on a number of key projects to target a 25% participation rate of women in the industry by 2020. Recently, NSW Minerals Council spokesperson Lindsay Hermes told Women’s Agenda the industry is adapting to demographic shifts in its workforce. “The more women we can attract into the industry, the more the industry will change to accommodate them,” he said.
But as research by Chief Executive Women has found, if women can’t see visible female leaders at the top of an organisation they’re unlikely to think such an organisation has much to offer them. It doesn’t help that the big miners don’t put women forward to speak at high-profile events.
It’s the senior end of the sector that really needs to change. We can’t pin the female face of the industry on Gina Rinehart alone.