Failing Gender Transformation in Mining

1 Failing Gender Transformation in MiningLuvisa BazolaWinnie MofokengMasefako SegooaPOLICY BRIEF 14 JUNE 20161 INTRODUCTIONBACKGROUND1 Lahiri-Dutt K. (2007) Roles and Status of women in ExtractiveIndustries in India: Making a Place for Gender Sensitive MiningDevelopment, Canberra, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,Australian University2 Mxhakaza, (2010). Perceived discrimination of women in themining sector. Unpublished dissertation. North-West UniversityThe Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) iscommitted to assessing progress on gendermainstreaming and Transformation in allsectors of society. As part of CGE s annualexercise to monitor this, the Commissionchose to focus on the Mining sector, beginningin 2015. This annual assessment was informedby in-depth examination and analysis ofinformation gathered on the efforts of theselected Mining houses in the promotion ofgender mainstreaming in their organisationalprogrammes, systems, processes, andpractices.

2 The findings revealed that trans-formation is at a snail s pace and Mining , as ahistorically male-dominated sector, remainsresistant to meaningful Gender transformationdespite the existing policy and legislativeinitiatives in the country. The report examinedthe factors, challenges and prospects forgender mainstreaming using a selectednumber of Mining Policy Brief will identify some of the keyfindings of the study and highlight importantpolicy implications before presenting therecommen-dations to address the issuesraised. The UN Economic and Social Council s AgreedConclusions 1997/2 defined Gender main-streaming as the process of assessingprogress of the implications for men andwomen of any planned action, includinglegislations, policies and programmes in allareas at all levels of the economy, including theextractive industry.

3 This industry represents amajor source of wealth in economies aroundthe world. Extractive Mining is often perceivedas dirty, dangerous and heavy work,considered fit only for men, and as a result,women s participation has been , there is existing evidence thatshows that women and girls often suffer fromdiscrimination, and experience dispropor-tionately negative consequences thereof as aresult of these practices in the Mining Gender -based stereotypes about men sand women s places in the Mining sector limitwomen s entrance into the sector, despite theirexperience and educational qualifications. As aresult, women represent only a small percen-tage of total employment in the Mining sector,particularly at senior management on these considerations, it is importantthat concrete measures are put in place toensure that women s participation, needs andvoices are included in decisions relating to theextractive industries operations and thebenefits accruing from such Gender mainstreaming programmesare therefore necessary to bridge the gendergap and ensure women s integration into there have been some progressivereforms in the sector that include women, the23 This target is currently under review, and is being raised to 17%.

4 4 Woolley, R (2005). Everyone s guide to Black Economic Africa: Zebra , (2010). Perceived discrimination of women in themining sector. Unpublished dissertation. North-West Universityintroduction of women in Mining challenges theprevailing male, macho Gender stereotypeabout the sector and introduces newchallenges for mineworkers, mines andunions. This meant challenging legislation thatdiscriminated against women from partici-pating in the Mining sector and introducing anew labour legislative framework outlawingdiscrimination and emphasising genderequality in the workplace. The following Actsfeature some of the legislation adopted afterthe dawn of democracy in 1994: The South Africa Labour Relations Act66 of 1995 The Basic Conditions of EmploymentAct 75 of 1997 The South Africa Employment EquityAct 55 of 1998 The Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 Promotion of Equality and Preventionof Unfair Discrimination Act 2000 The Minerals and PetroleumResources Development Act 28 of2002.

5 The Department of Minerals and Energyintroduced the Broad-Based Socio-EconomicEmpowerment Charter to achieve theobjectives of the Broad-Based Black EconomicEmpowerment Act within the Mining requires Mining industries to activelychange the demographic profile of theiremployees and ensure that they have plans inplace to achieve the target of 10 percent3participation of women by 2009. The Chartertherefore attempts to address the highproportion of male mineworkers and provideopportunities for female from the above initiatives, South Africais a signatory to numerous international andregional instruments on Gender main-streaming, which required the country todomesticate these instruments and enshrinethem within the domestic laws. The countryalso has to put systems and mechanisms inplace to ensure compliance by stateinstitutions and the private sector, whichincludes the Mining the changes in policy and legislationover the past two decades, there is strongevidence including the findings of thisassessment that show that women continueto experience discrimination within the miningsector in South assessment was conducted in the2015/2016 financial year, and is the sixthassessment since the beginning of thisprocess.

6 It is a largely qualitative approachbased on interviews conducted with officialsfrom selected Mining companies as well asother knowledgeable independent expertsfrom the sector. The selected miningcompanies were African Rainbow Minerals(ARM) and Anglo American. The selection wasintended to compare the new, black economicempowerment Mining groups and the long-METHODOLOGY ANDAPPROACH standing, well established and largest mininghouses in the country, which existed longbefore the dawn of democracy in South each of the two Mining houses, threesubsidiaries/local Mining operations wereselected in addition to the corporate headoffice, for assessment of progress on gendertransformation. The ARM assessment includedKomani iron Ore, Two Rivers Platinum andNkomati Nickel mines , which are American subsidiaries were Kumba IronOre, Anglo Platinum and Anglo Coal reason for this was to determine whetheror not the patterns of progress/lack of gendertransformation at local Mining operations andcorporate head office level was similar.

7 Inaddition, secondary sources, such as officialdocuments, corporate publications ( annualreports, policy documents, programmes,project reports, employment equity plans andany other relevant official companypublications) as well as third-party sources ofdata obtained during the fieldwork phase of theproject. Finally, a five-level Gender RepresentationRating Scale was used to rate the performanceof the participation of mines with regard toprogress made in the numerical representationof women at senior management ratings relied on the availability of accuratedata provided by the Mining houses on theirsenior staff profiles. As is the case with anyresearch activity, the study faced practicalconstraints and other limitations outlined in theresearch study section provides some of the key findingsof the assessment conducted in 2015 of thetwo Mining companies, focusing on genderrepresentation and participation in decision-making, mainstreaming Gender in organi-sational culture and systems, and measures tocreate an enabling environment for gendermainstreaming.

8 AFRICAN RAINBOW MINERALS (ARM)1. Gender Representation and Participationat Internal Decision-making LevelDespite the claim of ensuring women sempowerment and greater levels ofparticipation for women in decision-making processes at senior management,ARM high level decision-makingstructures are predominantly male-dominated. The corporation is headed by its ownerand executive chairman. Both the ownerand the CEO of the corporation are of 14 members comprising the board,only 2 (14%) are females. The steeringcommittee has a total of 26 members,made of 19 (73%) men and 7 (27%) same pattern of male dominancewithin the decision-making structures wasalso found in the business units. Forinstance, khumani iron Ore Mine and Two6 The rating scale was adapted from Avivah Wittenburg-Cox, One Key toGender Balance: 20-first Century Leadership , (http://.)

9 20- )7 Commission for Gender Equality (2015): Promoting Gender equalityunderground? Women. Mining and Gender mainstreaming in SouthAfrica. CGE publications. OF THE STUDY48An initiative introduced by Cell C Mobile Telephone service provider Platinum had a senior manage-ment made up of 10 men exclusively. Menoccupied 7 of the 8 positions at seniormanagement level at Nkomati terms of the CGE Gender Represen-tation Scale, ARM s performance in thisregard is rated at Level 1 ( failedgender representation).2. Mainstreaming Gender in OrganisationalCulture and SystemsThe information provided by the companyshowed that not much has been done interms of developing internalorganisational practices and systems topromote Gender ARM corporate office introduced aleadership development programmeframework to develop, empower andstrengthen leadership capacity for thefuture, although this is not necessarilytargeting women s development as apriority.

10 ARM indicated that it was incollaboration with Wits Business Schoolin a project called Future LeadersDevelopment Programme. However, theprogramme is not necessarily prioritisingwomen s skills development. The sametrend is seen at khumani iron Ore wheresome of the programmes and initiativescurrently in place ( internal successionplan) are regarded by the company asevidence of Gender mainstreaming, eventhough they appear not necessarilyintended to target and prioritise iron Ore had also introduced aninitiative to scout for girl learners fromGrades 10 and 11, as well as an initiativemeant as an intervention to improveresults in mathematics and science forhigh school pupils. Learners from theseprogrammes stood to get first preferencewhen the company issues bursaryschemes at tertiary level.