IFC’s Gender and Infrastructure Toolkit Business case: Mining

Business Case: Mining

Mining has long been a male-dominated industry. But increasingly, mining companies are recognizing that improving gender equity is good both for the bottom line and for community relations.
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Mining

This business case explores the potential opportunities that arise from increasing gender equity at all levels of the workforce, supply chain, and in community development, as well as from addressing gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH).
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KEY FINDINGS

Improving Operations and Community Engagement

01

Increasing representation of women in the workforce is good for the bottom line

Greater diversity at all levels of mining companies—from operations through the C-suite and board—leads to improved financial performance.
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02

Increasing women in the mining supply chain strengthens supplier diversity, reduces costs, and supports local innovation and competition.

A robust pipeline of diverse local suppliers improves both efficiency and community development.
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03

Including women in community engagement activities can help create support for mining projects.

Working closely with both men and women is key to building community support, and improving local economic and social investment.
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04

Addressing gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the mining sector is essential to improving outcomes and maintaining community relationships.

Companies must ensure women and men have a safe and respectful place to work, as well as address the potential for GBVH in host communities.
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Strategies to address gender gaps

The business case outlines strategies to increase gender equity at all levels of the company, as well as in their supply chains and community engagement.
Improve recruitment, retention, and promotion of women throughout the workforce
Increase women’s voice and participation in assessing and implementing gender equity policies
Increase representation of women in the mining supply chain
Improve engagement with women in host communities
Reduce GBVH and improve support services
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Improve recruitment, retention, and promotion of women throughout the workforce
Increase women’s voice and participation in assessing and implementing gender equity policies
Increase representation of women in the mining supply chain
Improve engagement with women in host communities
Reduce GBVH and improve support services
Fast Facts

Diversifying the sector will yield wide-ranging dividends.

8-17%
While some mining companies have committed to having 50% women in the workforce by 2025, women comprise only 8-17% of the mining labor force globally.

Source: McKinsey
15%
BHP Billiton reported a 15% improvement in performance in its 10 most gender-inclusive operations.

Source: Financial Times
13%
About 40% of entry level roles in mining (combined with energy and utilities) are filled by women, but women currently make up only 13% of mining C-suites.

Source: McKinsey
133%
Studies have shown that companies that prioritize supplier diversity have a 133% greater return on procurement investments, spend 20% less on buying operations, and have considerably smaller procurement teams.

Source: Wharton Magazine
31%
A 2019 study in South Africa reported that 31% of female miners cited abuse by colleagues as a workplace concern.

Source: Extractive Industries and Society
175
Allegations of sexual harassment and/or assault against three major mining companies in Western Australia between 2019 and 2021.

Source: Frances Mao
Nearly 50%
A Rio Tinto survey of 10,000 employees found nearly half reported experiencing bullying (53% of women; 47% of men, and even higher rates amongst LGBTIQ+).

Source: Elizabeth Broderick & Co
EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDIES
Newmont Mining Corp. Sets Ambitious Targets for Gender Diversity
Newmont is setting ambitious targets for gender diversity, pledging that its Ahafo North project in Ghana would have gender parity in employment once commercial operations start. Globally, the company has undertaken innovative steps to improve workplace culture, including a global review and one-on-one conversations. This comprehensive review identified 400 “symbols of exclusion,” such as “Men at Work” signs, segregated parking (e.g., between employees and contractors), seat preferences on fly-in-fly-out flights based on position, and ill-fitting personal protective equipment for pregnant women. In addition to addressing these signs, Newmont has also committed to improving representation of women in operations by 1% per year, as well as focusing on retention. Newmont conducted a 15-month trial of various gender initiatives to identify key strategies to implement, including blinding resumes and improving gender diversity in hiring slates and interview panels. As a result of these initiatives, Newmont was named as one of 418 companies in Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index. Newmont also became the first mining company to offer a sustainability-linked bond, linking its ability to achieve gender parity in senior leadership roles by 2030—up to and including the CEO—to interest rates.
BHP Moving Towards Workforce Parity
In 2016, BHP announced a goal to increase representation of women in its workforce from 17.6% to 50% by 2025. As of February 2022, the company now has 30% women in the workforce, 50% women on the executive leadership team, and 38% women in the roles reporting to the executive leadership team. In a 2022 blog post reflecting on what had helped the company make progress, BHP’s Chief People Officer Athalie Williams stated that initial improvements were largely the result of addressing bias in hiring and recruitment, improving flexible work arrangements, creating a stronger companywide conversation on gender equity and respectful workplaces, and conducing an annual gender pay-gap review. BHP’s initiative has also led to more than 6,000 pay adjustments to reduce the gender pay gap (over USD$19 million over the past five years), led to gender-balanced hiring, and reduced the gap between male and female voluntary turnover to just 0.6%.
"Thinking Better of It": The Benefits of Gender-Inclusive Consultation
In a World Bank study on Peru’s mining sector, a mining executive noted the importance of including women in community consultations: “It is true that in most cases women［are not directly involved in decision-making］but it is also true that men, after ‘reaching an agreement’ with the mining company, take back what they said because ‘they thought better of it.’” He added that “’thinking better of it’ actually meant that they had talked to their wives about it. If women’s opinions had been taken into account from the beginning, perhaps both time and money could be saved in these projects.” That same study also cited an example where men were considering going on strike but were talked out of it by the community’s women, who also relied on the men’s income.

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