March is a special month for women, an opportunity to reinforce the importance of diversity and inclusion in all industries and especially in mining. Gender inequality still exists but we can see some improvements in this male-dominated industry.
The proportion of women employed at mining companies sits at around 15.7%, up only 1% in the past five years – and the numbers are lower at the management level. Only 1 in 20 global firms have women in leadership positions.
However, we perceive in our interactions, a commitment from local government leaders, and also from board members of some mining companies, tot a better balance.
In Canada for example, as of January 1, 2020, all regulated publicly traded companies under the Canadian Commercial Corporations Act (CBCA) must provide shareholders details on the corporate diversity policies of companies, targeting board and senior management level.
In the last couple of years, we have being able to witness a timid growth, both in the interest of female candidates for our positions, and in clients’ interest in having women in short-lists for different positions, including those less traditional, for example those including high technical expertise. Some clients that are also considering a mentoring process for positions where women haven’t been traditionally represented before.
Recently in Latin America, we shortlisted a female candidate for a General Project Manager position. We got a strong and positive reaction from our client, that only encourages us to put more effort, on our side, to look for and find the right female candidates.
While we see improvement in the recruitment and training of women, it is important to emphasize that much still needs to be done, and sometimes it depends on decision-makers’ mindsets to change. The implementation of audits to identify barriers and opportunity to a better balanced workforce, to ensure all employees are fairly treated, and that issues such as work-life balance, equal pay for equal work, coaching, and mentorship, family-friendly policies among others are considered and tackled, is a good first step in order to achieve medium-term results.
By guaranteeing diversity and inclusion, the companies win in all areas: market recognition, attractivity, and productivity.
One step at the time, persevering, displaying our strengths and capability: we’ll conquer our space in the global mining sector.
About Globe 24-7
Globe 24-7 (Globe) has been conducting human resources consulting and search assignments for local and international mining, power and energy companies around the world for over a decade. Globe has offices in the major markets of the world to ensure consulting assignments and search campaigns are effectively managed at both site and corporate locations and has grown internationally to now service small, mid-tier and large-scale companies through its project recruitment, search, HR consulting and HR Systems divisions.
