Barriers to Career Advancement of Women in Mining: A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

In recent years, various initiatives, protocols and legislation have been developed globally to promote gender equality and address existing discrimination against women. South Africa is no exception to this trend. In the global mining industry, equal opportunity and mining legislation introduced by various countries, including South Africa, have opened up former bastions, such as mining, to women.Since the introduction of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 and the accompanying Broad-Based Socio- Economic Empowerment Charter, in 2004, the number of women in the mining industry has increased significantly. However, the “gender issue” still remains contentious and very problematic in the industry and women are still subjected to various challenges.This article aims to reveal the barriers women encounter in the industry. This study adopted a qualitative research design. Data were collected by means of semi-structured individual and group interviews. The research findings show that women are subjected to social, physiological, structural and employment barriers. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that the relevant government departments, top and senior management in the mining industry, as well as human resource managers and employment relations practitioners embrace and support a clear-cut vision of gender diversity in the industry.

Exploratory Study of Women Managers’s Career Development in Mining Industry: Challenges, Support, and Strategies Behind It

“…Women managers in the mining industry also experience harassment from their colleagues. This supports Botha's (2018) findings which are due to the small number of women in the mining industry, making them vulnerable to harassment (Botha, 2016;Botha, 2018;Kansake et al, 2021;Valadares et al, 2022). Companies are also seen as a challenge in the career development process.…”

“…Apart from that, partners are also seen as a challenge in the career development process. The high level of jealousy due to the dominant composition of male co-workers results in women managers having limited room for movement in the career development process (Botha, 2018). Women managers themselves are also seen as a challenge, namely being stagnant in their comfort zone and limiting thoughts, which causes the informant to be unable to improve her capabilities so that she cannot occupy a higher position.…”

“…Companies are also seen as a challenge in the career development process. Promotional practices that are not transparent support the findings of Botha (2018), and minimal promotional opportunities due to lack of policy hamper the career development process (Dambrin & Lambert, 2008). Superiors and co-workers are considered a challenge because the acceptance of female workers in the mining industry still needs to be improved, resulting in negative treatment from superiors and co-workers (Botha, 2018;Taparia & Lenka, 2022).…”

“…Efforts are needed to foster gender equality through existing policies in companies to support the career development of female workers in companies (Perks & Schulz, 2020) by implementing diversity strategies or diversity programs, especially in the mining industry where the workers are predominantly male (Williams et al, 2014), which can be a paradox because it perpetuates gender inequality in the mining industry due to not being properly regulated. Real efforts are needed by companies in the form of inclusive practices and not in the form of programs without supervision and a good monitoring system (Williams et al, 2014;Botha, 2018)…”

“…The term "Glass ceiling" was first coined in 1984 by Gay Bryant, editor of Working Woman magazine at that time, when interviewing with a magazine from the United States, Adweek (Carli & Eagly, 2016), and was defined as a transparent ceiling barrier (glass) which prevents qualified women from climbing the career ladder in the corporate hierarchy (Taparia & Lenka, 2022). The glass ceiling occurs in women who reach executive positions in companies (Odoh & Branney, 2022, Valvadares et al, 2022, but Cho et al (2019) found that the glass ceiling is starting to be felt by women managers in low managerial and middle managerial positions, with the antecedent being seen as a challenge for female workers when pursuing their career ladder consisting of individual factors in the form of women's main obligation to do domestic work, especially looking after children due to gendered role expectations which result in dual roles for women managers (Cross & Linehan, 2006;Gabaldon et al, 2015;Remington & Kitterlin-Lynch, 2017;Sarwar & Imran, 2019), organizational factors in the form of gender stereotypes which produce bias towards women who have children (Heilman & Okimoto, 2008, Taparia & Lenka, 2022 and minimal promotional opportunities as well as discrimination and harassment, as well as negative treatment from colleagues and superiors (Botha, 2016;Botha, 2018), factors related to policy in the form of lack of implementation of regulations relating to gender equality (Taparia & Lenka, 2022), and social and cultural factors in the form of determining roles for each gender (Eagly, 2013) which cause the careers of women managers to be hampered (Eagly & Karau, 2002;Fitzsimmons et al, 2014;Ansari, 2016;Remington & Kitterlin-Lynch, 2017;Verma, 2018;Taparia & Lenka, 2022).…”