Organisations like Wimsa still needed
MIDRAND (miningweekly.com) – Organisations that represent women in the workforce, such as Women in Mining South Africa (Wimsa), are still needed because challenges and issues surrounding their participation in the industry still needed to be addressed, Wimsa deputy chairperson Petro du Pisani said on Thursday.
Speaking at the eleventh yearly Women in Mining conference, in Midrand, she lamented that “women are still underrepresented” in the mining industry.
Du Pisani pointed out that women had only started pushing to get involved in the working environment in male-populated industries like mining, engineering and construction in the last few decades.
This, she said, could be why things were not “where they need to be” in terms of real change, including regarding safety, for women.
Being more inclusive made the workplace “a better place to be”, she noted, adding that “research has shown that having bigger female representation leads to more successful companies”.
Wimsa assists in creating awareness about the inequality that currently exists, mentoring and skills development opportunities, and provides networking benefits.
While barriers to entry for women in mining are beginning to be eliminated, though at a slower than expected pace, Du Pisani said it was still imperative to create awareness about female representation in industries, which would simultaneously also encourage innovation that “makes mining friendlier and a less harsh environment to work in”, for both women and men.
However, awareness needed to be coupled with action to drive real change, she stated.
As an example, she noted that Wimsa was involved in the Mining Charter III discussions two years ago. “Because of this involvement, Wimsa was able to push the female representation numbers higher in the Charter,” she commented.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation