Screens & Feeders

Gender equality progress mapped in new report

The report – titled Gender Diversity in the Australian Resources Industry – Leading, Lagging or Losing Out – was compiled by the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA). Described as a “blueprint to guide the industry to meet diversity targets”, it analyses gender diversity in the extractive industry and compares its progress to other industries.

According to the report, the extractive industry has one of the smallest pay gaps of any industry – 14.5 per cent, compared to 25.4 per cent. However, AWRA spokesperson Tara Diamond said gender equality initiatives need to continue.

“There are other areas in which the resources and energy sector is clearly lagging behind the all-industries average and must focus greater attention,” Diamond said. “Despite big efforts from resources and energy employers in recent years, overall workplace participation of women is an area in which our industry is still losing out.

{{quote-a:r-w:295-I:2-Q:“The report details an increase in groups supporting women in the workplace and the WIQ is one of those groups.”-WHO:Anita Waihi, SE Queensland WIQ coordinator}}“Undoing the male-dominated reputation by attracting and recruiting more women to traditionally male-dominated roles is crucial to increasing women’s participation,” she added.

WIQ perspective

Anita Waihi is an account manager at Metso and the IQA’s Women in Quarrying (WIQ) network coordinator for south-east Queensland. Discussing how the WIQ network assists women by addressing some of the issues raised in the report, she provided the following comments.

“The report details an increase in groups supporting women in the workplace and the WIQ is one of those groups. The IQA is striving to educate and develop the stakeholders,” Waihi said. “The report also mentions leaders in the industry working to increase the ratio of women in their workplace at all levels of their organisation, not for the sake of gender equality but to ensure the best mix of talent in their business.

“This is also true in the quarry industry as we have seen leading quarry operators working towards raising the awareness of women in their workplaces and celebrating their contribution in positive ways.”

AWRA announced its ultimate goal is to increase female participation in the resources industry to 25 per cent by 2020.

The full report can be read here.

More reading
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Extractive industries urged to do more on gender gap
Celebrating women working in mining

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