Women's participation in mining: what can we learn from EOWA reports?

• Author: Lord, Linley
• Position: Contributed Article - Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency - Report

Abstract

Various stakeholders associated with the mining sector have voiced concerns over current or projected skill and labour shortages that might affect output and productivity within their industry. In this context, policies that facilitate the recruitment and retention of women have been discussed as presenting an opportunity through which to address labour shortages and, in doing so, to enhance equity by improving women's employment in Australia's most highly paid industry. In this paper, we use information contained in company reports to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) to assess recent reported actions by the mining industry to enhance the recruitment and retention of women employees. We find considerable shortcomings in available data, coupled with little evidence of coordinated or concerted industry activity to deal with issues that might assist with promoting women's participation in the industry.

1. Introduction

   Women's high representation in low-paid industries and occupations is relatively well-recognised and documented. Recently, this was evidenced in the equal remuneration case brought before Fair Work Australia in 2011, where the policy challenges associated with redressing the undervaluation of women's employment were closely debated. The reverse side of this argument--that women are underrepresented in relatively high-paying occupations and industries--poses a different set of policy challenges.

   We consider the employment participation of women in the mining industry, which is a sector of specific interest for two reasons. First, it is Australia's best-paid industry, with average earnings significantly higher than in other industries. From an equity point of view, it can be argued that opportunities to participate in well-paid industries should be relatively accessible to ali those with the appropriate skills and experience. Second, industry representatives have publicly discussed the need to recruit and retain women employees to enable them to address labour and skill shortages within the industry. Labour shortages have been cited as having detrimental effects on industry productivity and also as being a reason for reviewing unwarranted restrictions on the ability of employers to source international labour for new and growing resources projects. Further, labour shortages have been cited as a potential reason for projects, or parts of projects, being relocated offshore (Knott cited in Rout 2011). Statements from leading industry representatives suggest that the failure to implement appropriate policy responses to deal with the recruitment and retention of employees could have implications for national economic growth and employment.

   As part of the industry's responses to well-publicised skill and labour shortages, in 2007 the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) and the Australian government's Office for Women commissioned and released a report titled Unearthing New Resources: Attracting and Retaining Women in the Australian Minerals Industry (Minerals Council of Australia and Australian Government Office for Women 2007). The report presented research findings that had been undertaken to examine the attitudes towards and experiences of women working in the minerals industry. Amid claims of being a world first, the report was launched at the Inaugural Women and Mining Symposium in Canberra (Minerals Council of Australia 2007). A keynote address was given by the Honourable Julie Bishop, who at that time was the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Women's Issues. The MCA press release quoted the organisation's Chief Executive, Mr Mitch Hooke, as saying:

   As an industry we can increase the gender and cultural diversity of our workforce if we improve the methods we use to engage women in operational decision making, create a working environment that is non-discriminatory and that values diversity and develop structures to maximise the community development benefits to women resulting from mining activities (Minerals Council of Australia 2007). The report included a range of recommendations which were seen as providing practical information about steps that could be taken by companies and the industry to improve the level of women's employment in the minerals sector. This article has two purposes. One is to examine available data from EOWA reports to explore women's patterns of employment in the mining industry and--by comparing 2006 and 2009-10 reports--to assess whether there has been a change in this pattern during five years of mostly buoyant product demand. This is done with reference to the key data requested in EOWA reports. The other is to com pa re the reported outcomes contained in EOWA with the recommendations included in the Unearthing New Resources report to assess whether there is evidence of systematic attempts at an industry level to improve women's participation in the mining industry.

2. Context: An Overview of Australian Women's Participation in Mining

   Economic theory, particularly the analysis of labour demand and supply, is frequently used to predict workforce needs. Key examples relevant to this discussion include the Productivity Commission's analysis, at a national level, of the implications of an ageing workforce and its exploration, at an industry level, of the labour needs of the mining industry (Abhayartna and Lattimore 2006). However, the direct empirical estimation of labour supply poses particular challenges. Employment data can show shortages in demand (measured as unemployment) or shortages in supply (measured as unfilled vacancies). As a result, observing current numbers of employees does not provide a full picture of the labour supply (Lowry, Molloy and Tan 2006, p.35).

   A further key difficulty in assessing future labour supply, however, is that economic theory yields ambiguous predictions for women's labour supply. Economic research in Australia and internationally has shown contrasting results on women's labour supply, with limited explanatory and predictive power (Nelson 1993, Barker and Feiner 2004; Birch 2005). This is generally explained in terms of women's labour supply decisions being linked with alternative uses of time related to productive household activities, and to the complexity of joint decision making in couple households. So, for example, in the months following the Global Financial Crisis in September 2008 women's labour supply initially increased, possibly driven by a need to supplement household income. However, one year later it had fallen very slightly from 58.5 to 58.4 per cent compared with a slightly larger decline in the male labour supply from 72.4 to 72.1 per cent (Preston and Jefferson 2009). In the particular context of Australia in 2009, the added-worker effect appears to have initially outweighed the discouraged-worker effect in the labour supply decisions of Australia n women. Theory, however, provides few insights into which of these effects would prevail and the matter became one of empirical study rather than of theoretical prediction. The malleability of, and relatively unpredictable changes in, women's labour supply decisions are apparent in recent data. These show either steady or increasing participation rates for the aggregate labour force (currently 65.6 per cent) and for women (59.1 per cent) (ABS 2011b). While not conclusive, these figures appear to demonstrate some changes in labour supply responses from those predicted for the mining industry under very different conditions by Abhayartna and Lattimore (2006).

   Labour supply is determined not only by the extent to which potential workforce participants seek work, but also by the supply of appropriately trained and skilled labour. For some particular occupations with high skill levels--such as engineering professionals--educational requirements might lead to a lag in the supply of appropriately skilled labour. However, existing reports suggest that labour supply issues extend beyond the need for highly skilled labour. It has been estimated that most labour shortages will be in semi-skilled occupations (Lowry, Molloy and Tan 2006). Further, The National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce Report (2010) noted that pathways to entry-level jobs were unclear and the report included a specific recommendation for the development of a strategy for attracting a nd retaining women in the resources and construction sectors. Other specific issues relevant to women's labour supply or choices included: working in remote locations; lack of family-friendly work practices; scarcity of part-time jobs; and a male-dominated workplace culture (National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce 2010, p.83).These aspects of labour supply strategies are particularly relevant to the discussion in this paper.

   In the context of ambiguous theoretical predictions, empirical challenges in analysis and highly public industry concerns about labour shortages in the mining industry, this study examines ABS and EOWA data on women's participation in mining at an aggregate level and also in particular occupations. The purpose of this approach is twofold. Firstly, to explore whether there a re changes in the patterns of women's participation in the mining industry during the strong demand period between 2006 and 2009-10. Secondly, to identify from EOWA reports, insights into successful, industry-level initiatives aimed at encouraging women's participation in mining. In doing so, the study hopes to contribute insights into policy measures that assist with improving women's workforce participation in the face of predicted labour shortages.

3. An Overview of Australian Data on Mining Employment and Earnings

   Mining industry employment patterns are dominated by male, full-time employment. Table 1 provides mining industry employment data for August 2009 and August 2011. The former year is provided as a point of comparison with information contained in EOWA reports for...