Taking Up the Women in Mining Challenge
Women are marginalized, vulnerable and adversely affected by unemployment in the mining industry. MTS aspires to spearhead the facilitation process with strategic partners in creating awareness campaigns for Women in Mining (WIM) as it represents a tremendous opportunity as women remain a significant untapped market in the mining sector.
Whilst discussions on this topic too often focus on the variety of difficulties mine's face in achieving the requisite 10% WIM, there are a number of companies, both mining and core business contractors, who have succeeded on a number of fronts.
These companies have not only attained or surpassed the numeric target, but are also successful in their integration, growth and retention of their female recruits. Why do some companies succeed where others fail?
There are a plethora of reasons as to the why some companies struggle to successfully attract and retain skilled women in their operations. The most common of these are the following:
- A lack of 'interest' amongst women to work in the mining sector, or underground specifically;
- The physical inability of women to carry out certain jobs required of them within various occupations on the mines;
- A lack of physical facilities appropriate to accommodate women either underground or in surface change facilities, and the cost associated with re-organising existing facilities;
- A lack of available and suitable overalls for women;
- Objections by and the prevention of women being employed on the mine by male-dominated Unions and/or worker representative groups;
- The high number of women taking maternity leave soon after their appointment and the prolific number of 'underground pregnancies';
- A high turnover of women appointed at the mines due to head-hunting and a corresponding issue of increased salary demands due to a shortage of skilled females in mine-related positions;
- An inadequate pool of qualified female recruits into key, management-level mining jobs such as engineering and geology; and
- A higher frequency of sexual harassment incidents on mines once female recruits are introduced into previously male-dominated working environments.
With such concerns across the sector it is not surprising that the level of despondency relating to the successful integration of female recruits into an operation is extensive. Whilst many of the comments made above are true to varying degrees, it is possible to successfully integrate women into the mining sector. A fundamental need for such change however is the broad change in perspective and attitudes to the challenge – across the sector as a whole and vertically within organisations. Those companies who have seen the greatest successes share a common trend in the implementation of transformation of mind-sets and attitudes relating to the employment of women.
Other practices which have seen more positive results in respect of improving female to male ratios include the following:
- The identification of mining-related occupations which are accessible by female recruits and placing quotas on the recruitment and/or replacement of vacant positions with women. Combined with an appropriate and integrated HRD plan, the training and support of women (particularly local women) into more skilled positions is also possible;
- The identification of talent pools of potential female candidates within local labour sending communities through structures such as educational institutions, civic organizations, the Department of Labour, TEBA or reputable recruitment agencies;
- Increasing awareness amongst the potential female recruits of the requirements of the identified occupational positions – open days, pre-recruitment orientation and underground mine visits have substantial impact on familiarising potential recruits of the employment conditions and expectations of various positions within the mining sector. This is of particular value if conducted amongst potential future recruits who are either at secondary school or tertiary education levels;
- A coherent and consistent mentoring programme, preferably conducted and managed by experienced female staff also reaps benefits in respect of support of new employees and their growth within the various HRD training initiatives on offer. Such support, whilst new to many mines and which may be viewed as 'soft' mine training will facilitate a stronger retention of female employees and may also provide a framework in which the women can grow and develop their skills, with a view to broadening their career outlook and improving their life skills. Whilst some occupations place a substantial strain on women, many companies are experiencing far greater productivity and more diligent work output from female employees. I have heard numerous reports from a variety of companies (and from both genders) on the benefits of female drivers, and their attention to the maintenance and careful use of their equipment. More-over women-only underground teams have seen a range of successes and have, over-time fostered a healthy competition with their male counter-parts;
- Undoubtedly the introduction of women into the traditional male-dominated environment can expect some teething problems and un-nerve the male employees in respect of the security of their positions. By bringing men into the planning and mentoring roles for the increased number of women on the mine is beneficial and aides the development of team spirit.
- Effective use of the requisite communication programme for the content and progress of the SLPs in respect of WIM policies, strategies and achievements at mine level enhances the stability of the endeavour and helps to move away from the impression that women in mining occupations is a short-term trend which will fade with time. The DMR's objectives behind the 10% target have not diminished in recent years and are unlikely to be reduced into the future; if anything the target could be increased. By entrenching the WIM strategies at mine level helps to support the programme as it evolves in its early days on a mine;
- The development and entrenchment of Sexual Harassment Policies are critical at mine level, however can only be successful if they are facilitated and managed from a senior level and operationalised effectively through the female line-managers; and
- Paternity leave can help increase parity between parents by enabling a more equitable division of child-rearing responsibilities. It also can help ensure that women have the same options for career advancement as men.
The various suggestions listed above will obviously differ in their effectiveness from one mine to another and are also driven to some degree by funding. Clearly this leads to the other common gripe of the SLP and Mining Charter legislation – that of a lack of flexibility and discrimination in respect of the adjudication and regulations placed on all mining operations across the country regardless of their size, commodity and capacity.
Focus is regularly placed on the difficulties some mines versus others have in respect of meetings targets such as the 10% WIM. However, as indicated earlier, a change of mind-set surrounding these demands and an acceptance of the objectives driving the current mining legislation can do wonders in terms of thinking out-of-the-box and generating implementable plans to achieve the requisite goal.
MTS' WIM vision and resultant programme aim to do just-that – challenge the current status-quo in resource management systems that are failing to optimise WIM opportunities within and across the sector. MTS'programme - Attract, Integrate and Retain("AIR") – plans to focus on entry-level Patterson A-B mining occupations and potential students to pursue careers in mining.
This represents something of a rebirth and reaffirmation of the belief that by working together, women and men can make a difference in their own lives and that of others. Using a participatory development approach and active networking the awareness campaign aims to have a national reach and replicate international best practice in this regard.
The objectives of MTS WIM"AIR" campaign include the following: 1. Attract school-leaving females to pursue careers in the mining industry 2. Integrate successful female candidates into the workplace and ensure opportunities for career growth 3. Retain these females throughout the mining value-chain
In addition, the objective underpinning the campaign is to go one step further by affording employment opportunities for rural unemployed women living in proximity of mining communities. World Bank research has established that women are more likely than men to contribute additional income to reducing household poverty.
By providing more women employment opportunities within the mining sector and increasing their economic power is also more likely to translate into improved livelihoods for a wide cross-section of society. This will further have a critical socio-economic stabilisation impact should the women emanate from local communities surrounding mining operations.
As a final comment, we feel strongly that the industry as a whole needs to tackle this issue of encouraging and retaining women in the mining sector;over and above the legislated targets, the mining industry has the opportunity within their scope to provide an enabling and supportive environment; this willdeter the constant movement of the few successful women in (particularly senior) mining occupations between various mines and/or companies It will inwardly grow a pool of skilled employees who have in many instances demonstrated their tenacity and contributions to the mining sector.
This in turn will normalise the industry's employment of women and the attitudes on the ground to their involvement. Lateral thinking in respect of the various programmes within your operations transformation programme can further help to achieve the required results.
Take up the challenge and contact MTS to participate in our WIM programme at an operational or production level. Further, follow the debate and continue to receive practical solutions to realisingtangible results for WIM at the forthcoming MTS Transformation Indaba 2011: Mining Beyond Compliance (2nd and 3rd November 2011).
Sue Brandt is the CEO and Founding Member of Managing Transformation Solutions (Pty) Ltd
