Women’s Career Advancement in the South African Mining Sector
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
The number of women working in South Africa’s mining industry has increased dramatically over the last 15 years or so, with women now accounting for 12% of the industry's workforce. Although mining companies have improved in general, they continue to struggle to attract, advance, and retain women at all levels of employment, more especially in core positions. Mining companies, government and several organizations in South Africa made some efforts to increase the number of women working in the mining industry with the goal of attracting more women to the mining industry and keeping those who are already there to achieve a gender inclusive industry. The efforts made yielded minimal results mainly due to insufficient data on challenges that prevent women from advancing their careers in the industry. Such efforts are guided by data, therefore a survey was conducted to understand what interventions are required from the mining companies and government to assist in advancing women careers in this sector. The survey sought to uncover the strategies that are effective and sustainable in advancing women careers in the South African mining sector within the context of support systems opportunities at individual, companies and government perspectives.
The study adopted qualitative research design with open ended questionnaires administered through online platforms. The responses were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis. A total of 23 respondents were obtained with 13 females and 10 males. Results showed that effective and sustainable strategies to advance women’s careers in the South African mining sector are categorized into personal, corporate and governmental. Themes developed are: individual initiatives, education, support systems, experience, attitude, cultural management, acceptance in workplace, policies, regulations and rewards. Furthermore, effective support systems opportunities are training, mentorship, succession planning, women representation, audits and equity strategy. To ensure that effective support systems opportunities are implemented and sustained, sub-themes that emerged are education and training. 2 The study revealed that it is a collaborative effort, amongst individual, companies and government to advance women’s careers in the South African mining sector. However, personal initiatives (self-development, qualifications and awareness) were the main strategy that worked for many women to advance their careers in the South African mining sector.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023
Keywords
Career advancement, Gender, Women career, Support systems opportunities, Mining sector, Women, UCTD
Citation
Letsoalo, Jelane. (2023). Women’s Career Advancement in the South African Mining Sector [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/40441