Why does talking about Women’s experience in mining hit a nerve?

Recently we shared an article by McKinsey that spoke about why women were leaving the mining industry. We have shared this article a few times, and each time we do we get a big response from both women and men, both sharing support and annoyance at the article. As we watch people comment, repost, and like and can’t help but wonder ‘why does this topic cause such a reaction?

Let’s start with our thoughts on some of the opposing comments we receive. These tend to minimize the impacts on women by stating retention is an everyone problem not just women, so why focus on just women? We also receive comments that straight out deny the idea that women have any challenges in the industry and we all just need to take ‘take five’ or that this is all ‘rubbish’. 

The great resignation is happening across the board and mining is no exception. However when women only represent between 8-14% of the global mining population, and we see similar statistics of new female grads coming into the industry, we can’t ignore when women are not retained or recruited in ways that speak to their experiences and needs. 

We aren’t here to debate whether this is a challenge. We already know this is a problem and fast enough action is not happening to plug the holes of women leaving the industry. 

We know women experience higher amounts of harassment, gender discrimination, and assault, especially at site based or remote working sites. We know that proper PPE was not available to women until very recently causing health and safety challenges for women that men don’t usually have to face. We know that maternity leaves still impact women at a high rate by roles not being held, demanding work schedules not being conducive to new mothers, and being passed up for promotions due to being off while on leave. There is also a very real ‘boys club’ across all levels of our industry. Protectionism, patriarchy, and straight up sexism exists, and women face the consequences of this club on a daily basis.

So when we see research like the McKinsey report, the Everyday Workplace report by Rio Tinto, and studies by MiHR we nod along in agreement, because this news is not new for most women. Yet there is still resistance in accepting this data as fact. 

If there is one thing that we notice is that challenging the status quo requires bravery.  People feel that they may find retribution or place themselves in harm's way when they speak out. There is a tiredness around speaking about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Yet the problem persists. Individuals often need to be empowered by senior leadership to speak up in support.  This means that senior leaders, including Executive Leadership and C-suite members, need to begin to interact more with posts that call for change, and better yet, require action to take place within their organizations to enable change. 

We know that if we fight for gender equality, men win too.  Men can take time off for paternal care if we get longer parental leave.  Men can also play more of an outward role in parenting, family care, and simply being able to voice when they need time away. Equity is a win for everyone. Furthermore, we know that we can achieve more if we attract all genders into mining.  If we open spaces for everyone, we can attract talent away from companies such as Google and Microsoft.  

Instead of reading McKinsey articles focused on women leaving mining, let's work towards a goal of having McKinsey articles written about male allyship in mining and the increase in retention and recruitment we could see across the board.