Women in Exploration & Mining.
A recent Ozmine seminar drew my attention to the present state of women in mining.
Gender is part of our identity.
Prehistoric “Java Man” is typically seen the male hunter with the woman as the gatherer. The Middle East religions have certain commonality where the male is the clan leader while the woman is the centre of the family. Modern Indonesian laws tend to follow these deep roots, with the male recognized as the head of the house. However Indonesia is a nation of diverse cultures, including Batak with its matriarchal system. In the latter part of the last century, the differing characteristics of men and women were debated by Desmond Morris (men dominant) and Germaine Greer (women equality), while more light hearted works by John Gray (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus) may be more readily appreciated by young geologists. Certainly women have played a direct role in the shaping of Indonesia, with such personalities as Kartini and much later President Megawati. Because men and women have distinct evolutionary traits, gender diversity may create a stronger family, tribe or work team.
Gender in Exploration.
Early exploration and mining camps were seen as the rough and tumble male only work areas. At my Australian university in the 60’s and 70’s the geology and mining schools were all male. Coming across a woman geologist in the field was a rarity, and it was not until the 21st centenary that I noticed a marked increase in the women geologist and miners entering the work force. Early geological jobs tended to open for women geologist more readily in the oil petrology areas. However the ongoing emancipation of women has made significant inroads into the exploration and mining industries, where women geologists apply for and get all sorts of field exploration jobs. It would appear the exploration and mining industry works best when combining the application of the hard science (geology & mining) with the social skills to work well in the hardships of remote sites. Indeed the science focused industry leaders have been quick to recognize that women in the workforce can bring added value to the exploration and mining industry.
A personal snapshot.
On one of my earliest experiences in working with women in the Indonesian exploration field reflected the great variance in local community attitudes towards women. In the late 1980’s I needed to go to Buntok to visit the local authorities in advance of setting up an alluvial gold exploration program. I took our Dayak secretary to help, after first getting permission from her husband and ensuring her child would be fine at home for the few days travel. Buntok had no hotels to speak of, so the secretary lodged in the local women’s boarding house, while I stayed at the family of the local authorities. The next morning the secretary told me of her terror, as some drunken men had tried to force their way into her room, others were too scared to respond to her screams. Fortunately the door had held and she was upset but not harmed. We reported the incident and left as soon as the meetings were completed later that morning. Later I set up a camp at nearby Sanggu village where the exploration program proceeded smoothly and without incident, including the hiring most of the village men to do the drilling, and women for panning the drill samples, plus a few women for cooking.
On a more recent exploration program of just a few years ago, I hired 1 woman and 7 male young geologists with 1 to 5 years general experience. The base camp was set up besides the main highway just outside of a large town. The social relationship between the geologists was more like brothers and sister, though one or two of the associated mining team’s professional staff were less sophisticated. All of the geologists were each trained to undertake the many different tasks and the women geologist showed some better potential than most of her male counterparts. However her “brothers” tender to nominate the women geologist for certain tasks, particularly for quality control and looking after the field laboratory, even though her skills in mapping were excellent. This project included a strange twist. At one point a local farmer approached the company to indicate he was willing to sell / compensate his land for mining in exchange for the marriage with the woman geologist! These experiences of women in exploration could be interpreted in so many ways, and are just a snapshot of what actually goes on in the field.
A broader perspective.
The AusIMM Bulletin (June 2016) has a number of articles that reflects on many of the broader aspects of women in the mining industry.
- The Australian “Workplace gender equality act of 2012” requires organizations to report annually against a number of gender equality indicators. It would appear that at more senior levels, where individual pay agreements are more discretionary, women’s total remuneration package is about 20% less than their male counterparts. It is thought that greater representation of women on boards is associated with a significant reduction in organization wide gender pay gaps.
- Some male outlooks of gender diversity are about les jobs for their male friends from their same university or background – less people like me. Some issues that face women include the male tactics of exclusion, undermining behaviors and bias that prevent women from advancement. In actual operations, champions of change are both men and women, wherein men can often more readily convince other men to accept change. Diversity is about increasing the talent pool for the success of the enterprise, and in turn the well being of all employees.
- Women have been graduating from Australian universities at higher rates than men since 1985. Studies showed that a more equitable balance of qualified men and women drives innovation, engagement and ultimate business success (Catalyst 2016). There are a number of regular industry technical and commercial seminars where professionals discuss the practical issues of the geological or mining industry. However a recent trend is for women focused groups to hold seminars and discussions for sharing the social aspects of the industry. A broader perspective of the industries well being is brought to light, with such examples as greater emphases on mentoring programs, and skill training etc.
- The benefit of women in the mining work site is well known, with better care of equipment, and less bravado male conflicts resulting in improved safety performance. Various references claim that statistics show that more women at executive level are correlated with improved business performance. Unfortunately there has been a 2.7 % decline in female participation in the Australian mining industry over the past 5 years. Attracting the best talent means designing strategy and policy to create a work environment that appeals to the best candidates, regardless of whether they are female or male. Typically such benefits focus on the remuneration package. It is advisable to address a broader range of issues when seeking to attract women into a company’s pool of best workers, such as flexible hours, proportion of remoter site to urban time, management reputation (including unconscious gender bias) and corporate image.
- Flexible work arrangements can offer employees the ability to balance their work-life goals, while also providing employees with greater flexibility to meet changing operational needs. This is particularly important for women who want to start a family. Indonesian exploration is typically undertaken on a work rotation roster, of so many weeks on the remote site, and so much time at home. Most companies are willing to allow variations and swapping of schedules to allow greater flexibility for the geologist, particularly to attend important family events etc, and thereby build company loyalty. The onset of new technology is seeing opportunities for some professional engineers to be located in cities, where the engineer can persist with a more urban life style, while the overheads for the company may be lower, along with a more meaningful working relationship between the engineers and corporate management.
A Jakarta Perspective.
The October 2016 Ozmine seminar included a panel discussion on Women in Mining between successful women in mining (expatriate and local). Some of the views moved beyond the generalized broader perspectives, to include the Indonesian context plus some personal experiences. Each of the women executives entered the Indonesian mining industry from the support sectors, such as finance, human resources or contract engineering etc. Upon gaining experience they developed their careers over many years and became more committed to the overall mining industry. They all experienced gender discrimination in a variety of ways within a company or in dealing with industry. They typically approached gender discrimination with patience and hard work, but in some cases a head on confrontational approach was needed. Discussion included a range of observations at mining sites. The mining companies are obliged to engage and train local communities, including some women. These local women are often bound by their customs and norms, wherein once married there is great social pressure for them to stop working and look after the household and family. The panelists implied this was not necessarily the best outcome for such women. Unfortunately there was no one to offer a perspective from the ESDM or other government bodies on gender issues.
The panel made reference to several international NGO on women in mining, including Women in Mining and Resources Singapore [ www.wimarsg.com ] that includes a recent PWC report, Women in mining (UK) [ www.womeninmining.org.uk/international ] , The 30% club [ www.30percentclub.org ], Women in mining network (Australia) [ www.ausimm.com.au ].
Other Indonesian women’s views.
Discussions with Indonesian women in the exploration industry reflect further on their outlook.
- Traditionally women look upon the exploration industry as “dirty”, in working with mud and rocks, along with primitive field camps where extra effort is required to maintain personal hygiene and safety. However the exploration support industries are often more attractive, being seen as office and town based. Women also tend to view the mining industry with a negative environmental image, which is less emotionally attractive as a career path. Women look upon the exploration industry as a male dominated work place, wherein women perceive they will have to toughen-up to work in this field. For most women their menstruation period is a very personal and sensitive issue, and coping with such in a male dirty work environment can be a turn off-factor.
- Women typically experience less gender bias when working for a good quality Indonesian company. Gender bias can come in several forms, such as being overshadowed in management meetings etc. Fortunately pay is more focused on KPI’s with less gender bias. Mid level promotion is reasonable for women, but many Indonesian companies are less inclined to put women onto the board of directors. The gender gap experience for Indonesian Women working for foreign exploration companies varies according to the norms of the foreign company. Typically Australian and American companies are more progressive, whereas Japan and French companies can be more subtly male oriented. Overall foreign companies are more aware of gender bias, and some are very progressive in supporting women through mentoring programs etc.
- Indonesian companies with women as director’s rolls often change their perception of teamwork and a broader understanding of the issues, typically leading to improved performance.
Numbers of Women in Indonesian Mining.
A review of the 2014 – 2015 annual reports of companies listed on the mining board of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (IDX) was undertaken to get some idea of the numbers of women engaged by responsible mining companies in Indonesia.
There were 42 companies listed on the mining board, of which 3 companies did not have a 2014 or 2015 annual report filed. From the remaining 39 companies, 13 companies did not have women as directors. Overall male directors (183) outnumbered the female directors (16). Of the 39 companies only 10 provided statistics on the number of women employees, and 8 companies provided no data at all on numbers of employees. Of the 10 companies that provided numbers of male and female employees, there is a total of 21,797 men and 1,750 women, making the overall percentage of women at 8.0% in the mining industry (varies from 3.7 to 14.2% for different companies).
| Company | Annual Report | IDX code | DirectorsMale/
Female |
Total employees | Female employees | % female | Gender policy |
| Adaro Energy | 2015 | ADRO | 7/0 | Thousands | No data | N/F | |
| Atlas Resources | 2015 | ARII | 4/1 | 461 | No data | N/F | |
| ATPK Resources | 2014 | ATPK | 5/0 | 975 | No data | N/F | |
| Borneo Lumbung Energi & Metal | None | BORN | 2/2 | ||||
| Berau Coal Energy | 2014 | BRAU | 4/0 | 1,311 | No data | N/F | |
| Baramulti Suksessarana | 2015 | BSSR | 6/1 | 541 | No data | N/F | |
| Bumi Resources | 2014 | BUMI | 5/1 | 30,000 include contractors | No Data | N/F | |
| Bayan Resources | 2015 | BYAN | 9/1 | 1,751 | No Data | N/F | |
| Darma Henwa | 2015 | DEWA | 5/0 | 2,096 | 79 | 3.7 | N/F |
| Delta Dunia Makmur | 2015 | DOID | 3/1 | 8,554 | No Data | N/F | |
| Golden Energy Mines | 2015 | GEMS | 7/0 | No Data | No Data | N/F | |
| Garda Tujuh Buana | None | GTBO | 3/0 | ||||
| Harum Energy | 2015 | HRUM | 4/0 | 652 | No Data | N/F | |
| Indo Tambangraya Megah | 2015 | ITMG | 5/0 | 2,739 | 296 | 10.8 | N/F |
| Resources Alam Indonesia | 2015 | KKGI | 6/0 | 440 | 59 | 13.4 | N/F |
| Mitrabara Adiperdana | 2015 | MBAP | 3/1 | 545 | No Data | N/F | |
| Samindo Resources | 2015 | MYOH | 4/0 | 609 | No Data | Yes | |
| Perdana Karya Perkasa | 2015 | PKPK | 3/0 | No Data | N/F | ||
| Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam | 2015 | PTBA | 6/0 | 2,663 | 214 | 8.0 | N/F |
| Petrosea | 2015 | PTRO | 8/0 | 2,537 | 192 | 7.5 | N/F |
| Golden Eagle Energy | 2015 | SMMT | 3/0 | 59 | No Data | N/F | |
| Permata Prima Sakti | None | TKGA | |||||
| Toba Bara Sejahtra | 2015 | TOBA | 3/1 | 983 | 140 | 14.2 | N/F |
| Apexindo Pratama Duta | 2015 | APEX | 3/0 | 1,233 | No Data | N/F | |
| Ratu Prabu Energi | 2015 | ARTI | 4/0 | No Data | N/F | ||
| Benakat Intgra | 2015 | BIPI | 4/0 | 179 | No Data | N/F | |
| Elnusa | 2015 | ELSA | 5/0 | 1,299 | 139 | 10.7 | Yes |
| Energi Mega Persada | 2014 | ENRG | 4/0 | 708 | No Data | N/F | |
| Surya Esa Perkasa | 2015 | ESSA | 5/0 | 128 | No Data | N/F | |
| Medco Energi Internasional | 2015 | MEDC | 8/0 | No data | N/F | ||
| Radiant Utama Interinsco | 2015 | RUIS | 2/1 | 3,142 | No Data | N/F | |
| Aneka Tambang | 2015 | ANTM | 6/0 | 2,423 | 195 | 8.0 | Yes |
| Citra Mineral Investindo | 2015 | CITA | 3/0 | No Data | N/F | ||
| Cakra Mineral | 2015 | CKRA | 3/0 | No Data | N/F | ||
| Central Omega Resources | 2015 | DKFT | 3/1 | 93 | No Data | N/F | |
| Vale Indonesia | 2015 | INCO | 3/1 | 3,107 | No Data | N/F | |
| Merdeka Copper Gold | 2015 | MDKA | 7/0 | 444 | 32 | 7.2 | Yes |
| J Resources Asia Pasifik | 2015 | PSAB | 5/0 | No Data | N/F | ||
| SMR Utama | 2015 | SMRU | 1/1 | 696 | No Data | N/F | |
| Timah | 2015 | TINS | 6/0 | 6,173 | 404 | 6.5 | N/F |
| Citatah Industri Marmer | 2015 | CTTH | 2/2 | 941 | No Data | N/F | |
| Mitra Investindo | 2015 | MITI | 4/1 | 196 | No Data | N/F |
* N/F_ Not Found: Gender policy in 2014/15 annual reports.
Of the 39 companies, only 4 companies had a distinctive gender policy. Most other companies included some gender neutral statement such as “free of discrimination in all forms” or “equal opportunities for all employees”. Most companies referred to a Code of Conduct, without giving further details. There did appear to be a few companies that exhibited a male bias, such as “A great leader must also succeed in producing new leaders who are even better than himself”. There were a number of reports that addressed the imbalance between male and female employees, for example; “Due to the nature of the Company’s business is in the mining area, majority employees in operational business units are male employees. This condition is influenced not only due to certain physical ability requirement to run technical mining work; it is also influenced by the socio-cultural factor of Indonesia.”
It was further noticed that the oil sector companies often had little or no focus on employees in their Annual Report, while most mining companies had well presented sections on human resources. There were some exceptions, including some mineral companies, which did not even have a section on human resources.
Exploration compared to other industries.
The development of the Indonesian exploration and mining industry was strongly influenced by the foreign companies through the initial Contract of Work programs. The evolvement of this industry had a significant training component, and was often subject to progressive international social work conditions and implemented by concerned engineers. The extension of this working culture is seen through the development of specific gender equality policies in some companies. By comparison, the more recently developed Indonesian banking industry has some draconian gender bias policies, such as placing significant obstacles on women employees to not get married within the first 2 years of work.
Conclusion.
Many exploration and mining companies have sought improved efficiency through refining engineering, renegotiation of contractors & debtors, reducing manpower etc. Placing capable women on the board of directors and in managerial positions may be a further option to consider for improving a company’s performance.
I am not aware of any studies of Indonesian exploration & mining companies that quantify the benefits of women to the industry, though most professional people would acknowledge there are advantages to having more women in the industry. Most companies are gender neutral. The Indonesian exploration and mining industry appears to be a leading sector in the recognition of gender equality.