Her Excellency, Australian High Commissioner, Ms Ann Harrap
Members of the diplomatic copr
Honoured guests
Ladies in mining and progressive men in the industry
Greetings to you all
May I say how thrilled I am to be attending this event dedicated to women in mining. Let me express my congratulations to the Australian government and AusAID, for hosting this study tour which offers an opportune platform for women to converse on issues that affect them in the mining industry and further creates an enabling environment for women to become captains of their own destiny.
The experience and knowledge gained, and indeed imparted, by the visiting group will have ripples of gain for the mining industry in general, and for communities specifically, whose social fabric is inscribed in femininity.
The organisers of this forum have set the commendable objective of encouraging participants to share their experiences with study tour members, to present case studies and to network, in an interactive environment.
The Government I serve endorses this long-sighted initiative, and wishes the forum well as it seeks to deal with the opportunities and challenges of that determined, driving force: women in mining. Occasions like this show that mining countries are able to work together for the common good. I strongly support this generous and collaborative spirit.
Programme director, a past history of systematic oppression based on grounds of race and gender characterised South Africa’s political landscape, but oppression of women has been an international phenomenon until only a few decades ago. We are still at the cutting edge of the greatest struggle of our times, which seeks justice and transformation for those previously downtrodden, with women experiencing double oppression.
Whereas the role of women in the struggle for liberation is generally inadequately documented, I wish to reiterate one of the historic lodestars dating back to 1956 when over twenty thousand women took their grievances to the Union Buildings, the once-colonial seat of apartheid and male power in Pretoria. They challenged the discriminatory rules that sought to force black women to carry passes that separated families and eventually destroyed homes and livelihoods of countless blacks in South Africa, while this unsuccessfully sought to destroy their dignity.
We triumphed, along with the rest of South Africa, when our inclusive liberation arrived in 1994 under the judicious leadership of President Nelson Mandela. Today, the government of South Africa has declared the 9th of August an official holiday in the national Calendar and August is considered the women’s month, all in recognition of the stewardship of women towards liberation of the country’s majority. This recognition is intended to bequeath the role of women in political struggle for liberation to posterity and to regularly rededicate ourselves to the cause of women’s emancipation and ridding our country of the entrenched patriarchal assumptions that women constitute an inferior species.
The mining sector has been an elitist purview of responsibility for men since inception of formalised mining. This phenomenon has not been exclusively applicable to South Africa, but throughout the world. It has only been in the recent past that women have started to participate meaningfully in the mining sector.
The calibre and quality of women in our economy generally and the mining industry in particular, are worthy of celebration in this short period of women’s role in the sector. The representation of women in the sector remains comparatively insignificant compared to their counterparts, but a handful of women have already demonstrated commendable progress, with the numbers growing steadily. It is proper for to salute these champions of change, whose commitment and work will go down in history, as the political champions of 1956 in South Africa.
Against this background, you will permit me to deal with some specifics that affect women in the sector. Top of the list is the health and safety of mining workers and sustainability of the mining sector. The state of women in mining is particularly concerning. Not least among these concerns is the number of reported incidents of women miners experiencing harassment and inhumane treatment by fellow workers in their underground workplaces. Some incidents raise important questions about the extent to which women are exposed and not protected, as is supposed to be the case, in their respective work environments. I put it before you that no woman should experience any sort of intimidation at the workplace that inhibit her to be the best and most productive employee she can be.
It is the responsibility of all to take appropriate action, including enforced regulatory action, to ensure that all workers have a safe and dignified work environment; that their right to the sanctity of life and limb is protected, and that they are able to return home to their loved ones daily.
The readiness of the mining workplace to accommodate women needs must be accelerated as part of normalisation of the industry. For instance, personal protective equipment for women is still lacking behind. Over the years, there were no adjustments to such designs to meet the needs of female workers within the mining sector.
The meaningful participation of women in the sector must be premised on appropriate skills needed to underpin growth and normalisation of the sector. Collaboration of government with mining social partners to improve skills development and also to increase the participation of women at all levels is absolutely critical.
In South Africa, the mining regulatory reform was imbued with provisions intended to introduce an important element of redress, seeking to normalise the mining industry. As set out in the objectives of the Mining and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002 (MPRDA) and section 100 of the MPRDA, transformation of this sector was never about affirmative action tokenism. It sought the all-inclusive representation of historically disadvantaged South Africans.
In the first wave of implementing the Mining Charter, we set a target of 10% for women in mining. The revised Charter is emphatic about demographic representation, which must effectively mean that women will enjoy 52% representation at all levels of the mining sector in time. This is consistent with the societal characteristic, dealing with race also, which we in South Africa are working towards.
In our attempt to introduce historically disadvantaged South Africans to their place in the sun, including in mining, we have been granting new rights (for both prospecting and mining). Yet, so far, we must admit that there has not been a marked increase among women in mining. We tend to encounter women during the application and granting of rights, after which many seem mysteriously to disappear into thin air.
Even though there are a handful of significant successes of women participants in the mining sector today, witness the turnout at this forum, our endeavours to advance transformation effectively are often thwarted by those who deliberately undermine this noble and necessary intention.
It continues to be a source of grave concern to me to see women who are hardest hit by the triple evils of poverty, underdevelopment and inequality in our part of the world now taking up a new burden of fronting for men. This process of using women as convenient chattels is to be condemned and has to be dealt with. I call upon all women in the mining industry to stand up and be counted as agents of change, because I know that women have what it takes to achieve this.
Despite the afore mentioned challenges, there has been some progress in the diversification of the workforce. We are encouraged to see some women beginning to occupy agenda-setting positions in the mining sector globally. There are a number of women CEOs, some General Managers, and women holding technical positions in mining, metallurgy, geology and financing. Mines are microcosms of society, and there are myriad opportunities to break through the gender barriers.
A South African Department of Labour research paper has noted: “In 1945 there were no women in engineering in South Africa but by 1974 more and more women gradually became part of the engineering profession. In 1996 about 16.21 per cent of engineering professionals who participated in the South African Labour Market were women.” Yet by 2005 this figure had decreased to only 10.51 per cent (Quantec 2007). But a 2009 press statement issued by the Engineering Council of South Africa noted that there is a “marked increase in the number of women registered in the engineering profession in recent times”. The statement pointed out that a “steady increase has been recorded since 2006 when only 1 387 were registered”. At the time the statement was issued, there were 2 085 women registered in the various categories.
An Australian study found that while women engineering students may be few in number, but they tend to complete their engineering studies with great success. However there appears to be a problem to keep women in the profession once they graduate. This situation is consistent with the South African experience and it calls upon all of us to find ways of creating the enabling environment that not only attracts women but to retain them to make the meaningful contribution that will forever change the perceptions of women in the mining industry.
The retention of women in the mining industry has been largely a function of the workplace environment being unwelcoming for women, in which basic necessities for women were not provided for. A comment by a prominent recruitment specialist captures the essence of the problem eminently, i.e. “As recently as five years ago, some companies would not accept female artisans because they simply were not equipped to take them on. It wasn’t really about skills, just facilities. They lacked things like women’s bathrooms”.
It is therefore incumbent upon us all as mining industry role-players continue creating this enabling environment for women not only because it addresses the critical area of shortages, but also because women are good for the industry. The EU Commission Report of 2006 correctly states that “…women engineers bring diversity to the mono-cultural engineering workforce and therefore extend the impact engineering has on society. Women usually show interest in the social aspects of technology and science and can make a significant contribution to social and environmental questions...”
In politics, Africa is progressing will in terms of women representation, with Rwanda up there with the world leaders in number of women MPs and South Africa not far behind. The recent appointment of Honourable African Union Commissioner Dlamini-Zuma epitomises this progress. Indeed the Australian Prime Minister is steering the country into new heights of development and sophistication, as woman. These few examples demonstrate that women have the greatest potential to work with men in order to take the mining industry to new heights as well.
It would be remiss of me not to note with appreciation companies and men whose efforts towards the upliftment of women in the mining industry.
In conclusion, may I also take this opportunity to direct you to our recently launched and optimally functioning social media platform we have created as a tool to engage robustly in shaping the agenda for women in mining. The address is @WIM_Lekgotla (i.e. at women in mining underscore Lekgotla). We launched this platform during our women in Mining Lekgotla this August and we would really encourage everyone to follow us and share experiences and knowledge.
I salute all women in mining.
Address by the South African Minister of Mineral Resources, Ms Susan Shabangu (MP), at the “Women in Mining and Development” Leadership Forum
