Over the past year, the scourge of sexual abuse in the WA mining sector has been laid bare for the whole country to see.

Reporting in The West Australian prompted a parliamentary inquiry, which revealed the shameful treatment of women on remote mine sites and how little the big mining companies did to stop it.

Or see the perpetrators face any kind of justice.

In the wake of these revelations, those big mining companies have pledged to do better.

But let’s be honest… they couldn’t bloody do much worse.

Still, it must be said that new protocols around reporting abuse and strategies for preventing it from happening - like alcohol limits on mine site - have created a safer environment for female FIFOs.

But one massive question still remains.

Where are those female FIFOs going to come from.

Women are still drastically under represented in the resource sector.

Nationally, more than 270 thousand people work in mining, but only about 50 thousand are women.

That’s why Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King is meeting today with 14 top mining execs to figure out how we can get more women into the industry.

The short answer… is not easily.

Beyond the highly publicised issues around safety, which have given the resource sector a massive black eye. the reality is that uni and trade courses that train workers for the industry are also dominated by male enrolments.

So, if the government and mining industry are serious about attracting more women, they need to start by appealing to high school and uni students.

Create more graduate female geologists, engineers and tradies, and you’ll get more of them working on mine sites.

Because to really generate change in this sector you can’t just poach a few women from office and hospo jobs in Perth, luring them in with bigger pay packets and hope that having more women on site will make all the cultural problems go away.

What the sector needs is women in senior positions in management roles and that goes back to what I said before about training.

The government has to find a way to encourage or incentivise women to take up this training. Otherwise the change we’re hoping for in the mining sector will be superficial, at best.

Over the past year, the scourge of sexual abuse in the WA mining sector has been laid bare for the whole country to see.
Reporting in The West Australian prompted a parliamentary inquiry, which revealed the shameful treatment of women on remote mine sites and how little the big mining companies did to stop it.
Or see the perpetrators face any kind of justice.
In the wake of these revelations, those big mining companies have pledged to do better.
But let’s be honest… they couldn’t bloody do much worse.
Still, it must be said that new protocols around reporting abuse and strategies for preventing it from happening - like alcohol limits on mine site - have created a safer environment for female FIFOs.
But one massive question still remains.
Where are those female FIFOs going to come from.
Women are still drastically under represented in the resource sector.
Nationally, more than 270 thousand people work in mining, but only about 50 thousand are women.
That’s why Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King is meeting today with 14 top mining execs to figure out how we can get more women into the industry.
The short answer… is not easily.
Beyond the highly publicised issues around safety, which have given the resource sector a massive black eye. the reality is that uni and trade courses that train workers for the industry are also dominated by male enrolments.
So, if the government and mining industry are serious about attracting more women, they need to start by appealing to high school and uni students.
Create more graduate female geologists, engineers and tradies, and you’ll get more of them working on mine sites.
Because to really generate change in this sector you can’t just poach a few women from office and hospo jobs in Perth, luring them in with bigger pay packets and hope that having more women on site will make all the cultural problems go away.
What the sector needs is women in senior positions in management roles and that goes back to what I said before about training.
The government has to find a way to encourage or incentivise women to take up this training. Otherwise the change we’re hoping for in the mining sector will be superficial, at best.

If you enjoyed listening to The West Live for your daily news fix, then come and join us over on The Nightly Five.  Host Ben O’Shea continues to deliver punchy news and analysis, in a new podcast to get you in front of tomorrow’s news today!  Subscribe on your favourite podcast player and visit the thenightly.com.au

If you enjoyed listening to The West Live for your daily news fix, then come and join us over on The Nightly Five.  Host Ben O’Shea continues to deliver punchy news and analysis, in a new podcast to get you in front of tomorrow’s news today!  Subscribe on your favourite podcast player and visit the <a href="https://thenightly.com.au">thenightly.com.au</a>

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