Women in mining and industry

This is not necessarily the best way to start a sober piece on the topic of women in mining, but what other way is appropriate when last night my older daughter had a baby daughter? Both are well and I am stuck babysitting the older brother, so here goes an attempt at a serious piece.

I know I will never be able to make this new granddaughter as rich as Gina Rinehart. She is reportedly Australia’s richest woman as a result of mining. The report continues:

Ms Rinehart, the daughter of the late mining magnate Lang Hancock, signed a deal last year with global miner Rio Tinto to develop her Hope Downs iron ore mine in Western Australia at a cost of $1.3 billion. The mine is due to start producing early in 2008. “She (Ms Rinehart) is very conservatively valued this year,” Mr Thomson said. “We’ve applied a bit of a discount to her because the mine’s not in production, but when the iron ore starts leaving on the boats, that discount will have to come off. “Ms Rinehart really looms as the best candidate to overtake James Packer as Australia’s richest person.”

At the other end of the scale, again from Australia, we read a report that the following steps should be taken to increase womens’ participation in mining:

- Demonstrate stronger leadership regarding women’s participation in the industry.
- Address the negative image held by prospective women employees through a range of attraction strategies.
- Establish a comprehensive university program to facilitate transition from education to employment.
- Review recruitment strategies to increase female applicants across all categories of professional disciplines.
- Implement operational systems/processes to directly address identified gaps in workforce management for gender diversity.
- Implement ’special measures’, such as dedicated mentoring, to assist in the attraction and retention of Indigenous women.
- Improve current work practices in relation to flexibility in rostering and the provision of part-time career opportunities.
- Improve current work environments from a quality of life perspective.
- Address the strong masculine culture through awareness raising and effective senior leadership.
- Support all employees to achieve a balance between work and family commitments.
- Provide a range of initiatives aimed at developing women’s careers.

Jumping to London, England, there is a blog called Women In Mining listed in the blogroll of this blog. The site presents a fascinating picture of happenings in this world capital as far as women and mining are concerned. For anybody interested in the role of women in mining, this is a site to watch. From what I can make out, it’s a pretty high-style affair of parties, profound meetings, and discrete awards.

Back to the free style of Southern California where my daughter is torn about how long to stay at home before returning to work as a consulting civil engineer. I advised staying at home at least until the new year and then working three days a week. Her company is happy for her to do this. But when did your kids ever take your advice?

I suppose that all I can hope for my two granddaughters (the other is three) is that by the time they enter the work place, all this silly “women in X” business will have gone away, and skill and desire will be all that counts.