International Day of Women in mining

Gender equality at board level

Celebrating female talent in mining and working toward gender equality in the sector were the two key points for IDWIM2022.

Skarn Associates looked at the numbers for twenty of the world’s gold producers, to determine the overall contribution from women in those companies, and how that could shape the future of the industry as it strives to become more sustainable, diverse, and inclusive.

The data shows that one gold producer has an almost 50% female workforce, but when you drill this down further, to executive or board level, that percentage drops to just 13% female. However, for one leading producer, just 15% of total employees identify as female, but those women make up 44% of the board. On average just 15% of the total workforce is female. At board level women represent 30% of the total. Or; only one woman is employed for every 880 ounces of gold produced.

Reporting on gender and remuneration is still not commonplace for companies in the mining space however the struggles and challenges faced by women in the mining sector, and how we might think about gender in mining is starting to shift. The industry has made great strides at gender inclusion across all company representation and the 30% average at board level is tracking above the 15-20% total for the space.