Closing the gender gap in the mining industry

In 2006, mining giant BHP Billiton published its annual sustainability report that featured case studies on women and their high-profile roles within the company. They were all intelligent, educated women who had contributed greatly to the success of the company but their numbers were small. In fact, of all the thousands of people BHP Billiton employs (full-time) globally, only 12% are females. For companies like BHP Billiton to even present a case study on female employees in its yearly report only serves to highlight the gender imbalance across the mining sector. The report said that in the three years prior to 2006, BHP Billiton had hired around 600 graduates with more than 20% of those being women. However, the mining sector is still male dominated and with women being paid less than men for the same work the road ahead on creating gender equality has a long way to go.

Donna Frater, chair of the Women in Mining Networking Committee for 2008, a sub-committee of The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, believes that the current climate presents a unique opportunity to drive cultural change and open opportunities for women to participate in mining.

"I have genuinely benefited from the mining and resources industry and have enjoyed the challenges that I have encountered, yet I still see an industry that doesn't always behave in a way that demonstrates an appreciation of diversity," she says.

"This is apparent in the low participation rates. Women make up less than 7% of the technical workforce in mining, a figure that has remained relatively static in the last 20 years."

According to AusIMM, the goal of increasing women's participation in the mining sector is increasingly moving onto the industry's agenda, which has been driven both by the recognition that a diverse workforce is an indispensable part of corporate social responsibility, and the need to attract and retain a broader demographic in order to address the current skills shortage.

"Companies are keen to find ways to attract and retain more women, but there is no simple solution," says Ms Frater.

"The gender pay gap that was identified in the recent AusIMM Remuneration Survey was a 'wake-up' call [about what] needs to be done in the area of advocacy."

Frater says that the survey found an escalating gender pay gap in the industry that ranges from 5% difference per hour for a young professional to 20% per hour for a senior manager.

"A key goal of WIMNet is to conduct further research to identify the causes behind this gap so that they can be communicated to individuals and companies, and then addressed," she says.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that, in 2006, for every dollar earned by men in the mining industry, women earned 76 cents. In fact, the pay gap between men and women is so obvious that women can expect to earn up to $418.90 per week less than their male counterparts in some instances.

"One of our KPIs is to eliminate the gap in time for the next remuneration survey in 2009," says Frater.

"We believe that educating and publicising that the issue still exists, and encouraging women to discuss the issue, will help to resolve it."

The WIMNet has also become a major advocate for government support for more flexible child care options in regional areas, as the lack of appropriate child care has been cited in a recent industry study as a major reason women leave mining.

"The current rebate is limited to options that largely do not line up with the reality of mine rosters," says Ms Frater, adding that the WIMNet hopes that the federal government will work with the states to deliver flexible and affordable child care that does not leave women priced out of the industry.

"No one will change mining from the outside. It is up to the women in the mining industry to influence their workmates, peers, supervisors and management about their competence, aspirations and their value in the industry."

"Preparing women to promote their own value and competence is a key to effecting real and lasting change," she says.