Support structures in the career progression of women in mining at Amandelbult Mine

Abstract

Post 1994, South Africa introduced several policies and practices to accommodate inclusion & diversity and measures to address inequalities in the Mining industry. In addition, these policies advocated for the opening of the mining sector to previously disadvantaged South Africans which include women as the strategic pillar of economic empowerment policy. Although this policy had good intensions, integrating women into such a traditional male-dominated industry presented various challenges, including lack of career progression, especially for women. The main objective of this study is to analyse existing support structures beyond policy that Amandelbult mine is using to ensure career progression for women in mining at its operations. The researcher adopted thematic analysis and employed a computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). For this study, NVivo 12 Plus was employed to qualitatively analyse and code all the in-depth data from the eleven participants “Amandelbult Leadership Team - ALT” who took part in the study. The study revealed that women face six (6) salient barriers that impede their career progression in the mining industry. These are (i) the lack of experience in technical roles that endow them with the requisite core competences to progress up the leadership ladder, (ii) the masculinised nature of the mining industry, (iii) stereotyping (iv) life-work balance, (v) the glass ceiling and (vi) nepotism. Finally, the findings also corroborate extensive research that reveals that more women are in junior, administrative and support roles. On the other hand, a small number of women have progressed to senior, mid- senior, and executive level. This suggests that despite some policies, mechanisms and programmes in place, more work still needs to be done to ensure that the mechanisms and policies translate into tangible outcomes where we see more women in senior leadership positions in the nearest future.