The mining industry has made major strides as an equal opportunity employer, and is not as bad as some people perceive it to be, with a number of opportunities available for women through employment opportunities and training and development, says diversified natural resource company Glencore Coal South Africa human resources head Sisi Mahobe.

“The future is bright for women in the mining industry. Women must understand what is required in terms of career opportunities and working responsibilities and be prepared to take opportunities while not losing their authenticity and compromising who they are and what they stand for by trying to emulate male leadership styles.”

Mahobe emphasises that mining companies must take the time to engage with women on issues that directly affect them and find ways of accommodating their needs and focus on their career development.

In terms of gender diversity in the mining industry, she highlights that overall progress has been made at entry level, in terms of operator and artisan positions – in terms of entry to professional and middle management roles and in terms of general, senior and executive support roles.

However, underrepresentation of women remains an ongoing challenge in junior line management and supervisory roles, as well as in senior, executive and core management roles, she concedes.

Mahobe details her own journey in the mining industry, starting as graduate trainee in 1994 at Samancor and, over the years, working in various commodities and companies in manganese, chrome, plati- num and gold – where she has experienced the changes unfolding across the industry. She posits that, while the conditions and culture in hard-rock mines remain tough for most women, the coal industry has become much more progressive and conditions have improved over time, as the remaining underground coal mines are mechanised and the majority of the operations being opencast.

Moreover, her current field of human resources has seen many women achieving success and reaching executive roles within the mining industry.

She believes that, as a human resources professional, one does not operate in a vacuum and should assume the mantle of driving transformation and efficiency in the industry. She posits that human resources professionals play a critical role in driving a mindset change at all levels – from promoting a transition from regarding transformation as being about compliance to it being a sustainability matter, to understanding and assisting in overcoming conscious and unconscious bias regarding transformation.

“I understand that I may be speaking from a position of privilege and not every woman at every level in the industry may have the same voice and be able to influence their fate, but we need to instil a culture of raising our voices and challenging the status quo across all levels to enable change to happen.”

Room for Improvement

Mahobe concedes that women still face several challenges when working in the mining industry. These constitute structural, societal and sometimes even consciously and unconsciously self-inflicted challenges, which impact on their careers.

“We have come a long way as an industry in accommodating women, but we are not there yet.”

Mahobe notes that, in terms of facilities and aspects like protective clothing, a lot of progress has been made within the mining industry. However, concerns remain around issues of sexual harassment, where levels of reporting are low.

“Ongoing education of women on their rights, what constitutes unacceptable behaviour and providing support for the women who do report these incidents, as well as ensuring that perpetrators, if found to be guilty, are dealt with, continue to be the focus areas across the industry.”

Further, she highlights that the mining industry has entrenched ways of operating, with remnants of perceptions that women are too “soft and lack the assertiveness to manage in difficult mining conditions” often prevailing.

Therefore, ongoing education and awareness raising on unconscious bias, to ensure that stereotypes about women are addressed, remains a critical intervention to challenging these stereotypes as and when they manifest, indicates Mahobe.

Another solution is to include the achievements of women who have been appointed, as well as to develop accountability among managers by including development and progression goals in the managers’ performance contracts, she suggests, emphasising that “appointing, integrating and developing women can no longer continue to be a ‘nice-to-have’ feature”.

Mahobe acclaims that “signifi- cant” progress has been made in breaking down barriers for women in entry-level positions, as the majority of many companies’ bursary programmes and graduate development programmes comprise women, with many progressing to middle-management roles.

However, she laments that there seems to be stagnation in general career progression when women reach middle-management levels, owing to the working environment, as well as individual choices, such as leaving to start a family, and then returning to a position that requires less capacity to balance home and work responsibilities.

This is compounded by societal expectations of women being the primary caregivers, and the working environment is not always accommodating in this regard, as production roles demand 24/7 availability, and on-site representation.

“The key roles in the mining environment require presence beyond the normal working hours, especially in times of crisis. Women, without the necessary support system, struggle to balance work and family commitments, as crises at the mine cannot be predicted and planned for in advance.”

The solution lies in creating awareness among women about how to find the necessary support system and in providing education about such systems to assist with household and child-caring responsibilities, she concludes.