AMN - DIVERSITY: Special report from Mining Indaba

For its 2019 event, Mining Indaba put in place a plan to increase the number of female speakers to 25% - a target they achieved, with 89 women taking to the stage.

To tackle some of the key issues organisations are facing to achieve greater gender diversity in the workplace, Mining Indaba has released a report titled ‘Inspiring the next generation of women in the African mining industry’ (https://www.miningindaba.com/Page/wim-ebook).

The report is dedicated to the women and men in the industry driving inclusion and diversity. It features interviews with Deshnee Naidoo, CEO Vedanta Zinc; Simone Niven, Corporate Relations Group executive, Rio Tinto; Professor Adam Habib, vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand; Thabile Makgala, executive of Mining at Impala Platinum and chairperson of WiMSA, amongst others.

It also outlines key takeaways for the industry, including information on proactive diversity policies, improving health and safety for women, equal pay and making the recruitment process fairer, and changing attitudes in society around diversity.

Partnering with three women in mining associations – Women in Mining UK, International Women in Mining and Women in Mining South Africa – helped make this happen.

Barbara Dischinger, founder and director of International Women in Mining, says, “The industry needs to make joint efforts to change its image, showing its benefits, opportunities and its strong place in the world’s economy.”

Mining Indaba organisers believe that the support they received from attending companies shows how the sector will grow from strength to strength when it comes to gender diversity.

Portfolio director Simon Ford says, “Mining Indaba is dedicated to driving gender diversity through its event. Having over 6,000 delegates – including leading mining companies, investors and governments – in one place is an opportunity to encourage organisations to take the necessary steps to make gender diversity in the mining industry a reality.”

For its 2020 event, Mining Indaba has increased its women speaker target to 27%.

www.miningindaba.com