Give women a chance in mining - Namene

NDAMA NAKASHOLEThe Electricity Control Board CEO, Foibe Namene, has urged men in mining to be mindful of women’s disadvantaged position in the industry, with a view to empowering women to have equal opportunities in the male-dominated sector.In her presentation at a Business 7 Impact Breakfast event held at a Windhoek hotel yesterday, Namene spoke of the transformation role of empowering women in mining.“Imagine when you go to your home village and you may want people to behave and think in a certain way, forgetting that you had the privilege to get an education. It is the same in the mining sphere. Men forget that they have an advantage at certain things,” she said.Namene, who also chairs the board of a large mining company, said the fact that women’s role in mining was negatively perceived made it hard to encourage more women to join the mining sector.Since mining drives economies around the world, the inclusion of women will improve their economic stability too.She gave an example of a certain mining company where 20.6% of the over 7 000 employees in 2016/2017 were women. Gender gaps in mining are mostly seen at management level, and in this specific case only four of the 40 executive directors were women, she said.Namene questioned why this was still the situation although there had been international, regional and domestic legislation adopted to empower women in mining.“If the legislation was giving women what they deserve, then the numbers would not have looked like that,” she said.Barriers Namene, who quoted different international legal provisions, said generally equipment and facilities were not designed with women in mind. She also said that the mining environment in most cases did not recognise the dual role of women as workers and caregivers by giving them the flexibility to balance work and family life.Other issues that sabotage the prosperity of women in the mining industry are restrictions to credit access and limited control over marital assets, lack of female role models in the sector, and low education and skills levels because they are not aware of the available opportunities.A high risk of gender violence, lack of information on issues affecting women, and the struggle for women to avail themselves of opportunities presented by large-scale farming are some of the other barriers that prevent women from prospering in the mining sector.Winds of changeAt the beginning of her presentation, Namene read a quote from a statement by deputy mines and energy minister Cornelia Shilunga, who is the first woman to hold this position in Namibia: “Today, more than ever before, there is a great need for renewed and realistic understanding of the intimate relationship between gender parity and opportunities made available to qualified women willing to take a stake in the entrepreneurial side of mining. By this I am referring to women who are ready to move from being mere administrative workers to leaders driving change in the mining industry as Exclusive Prospecting Licence and Mining Licence holders.”Unless deliberate efforts are introduced for the advancement of women, the number of women in this important sector of the economy will remain low or even decline, Namene believes. She called upon companies to support organisations such as the Women in Mining Association of Namibia, which promotes and empowers women in that sector.She said until emphasis was placed on the empowerment of women as a strategic objective, the industry was not doing what it was supposed to do. “Women bring a different dimension to the sector and if mining is to become a vehicle of inclusive economic growth, greater consideration and women’s empowerment needs to be integrated in every mining phase project, from employment to community engagement,” she said.She further highlighted that the rise of women did not in any way mean the fall of men, and urged men to become involved in the drive towards women’s rise in mining. “We are asking for women to be given an opportunity as equal participants in the creation of wealth,” she said.Namene further encouraged women and girls to get an education, become skilled and to be brave enough to take up jobs in mining as graduates.She said she would not encourage them to take up less skilled positions in this thriving sector of the economy, but rather skilled positions.The marketing manager of the event organiser Namibia Media Holdings, Hennie Geldenhuys, said the company would continue to provide platforms for the sharing of information.

Give women a chance in mining - Namene

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Give women a chance in mining - Namene

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