Australian Mines and Metals Association (AREEA) CEO Steve Knott provides this opening message for the November 2013 edition of the AWRA Newsletter, exploring the recent launch and media interest in the AWRA Way Forward Guides and diversity workshops, and highlighting the importance of leadership and engagement in driving gender diversity in the resource industry.
Resource industry employer group AREEA is pleased to bring you this edition of the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) bi-monthly newsletter.
Over the past two months AWRA has progressed some valuable gender inclusion initiatives to continue driving our collective goal of 25% women representation in our sector by 2020.
In this newsletter you will read about our new national education campaign designed to instil a greater focus on workplace diversity within resource companies’ organisational culture; provide practical tools and lessons for human resources professionals; and better articulate the business case for diversity from a leadership perspective.
Including our nine-part suite of Way Forward Guides and a number of gender diversity workshops currently underway across the country, the launch of this campaign generated quite a bit of media interest last week.
AREEA’s director of group services Tara Diamond took full advantage of the opportunity to promote the fantastic work many of the AWRA partners and other resource employers are doing in the diversity area, as well as detailing some of the challenges ahead of us.
You can watch Tara on ABC 24 News here, or read the story on ABC’s AM program here.
As we highlighted when promoting this campaign, demonstrating top-down leadership on women’s workforce participation is a very important priority for the resource industry. AWRA has benefited from the early support and involvement of OZ Minerals CEO Terry Burgess and Anglo American Metallurgical Coal CEO Seamus French (pictured below).
Terry signed on as chair of AWRA’s leadership group when it was launched in May 2012, while Seamus addressed our 2013 AWRA Conference on why he is a passionate believer in both the cultural and commercial benefits of workplace diversity.
Both organisations are leaders in gender diversity in our industry and have been recognised for innovation in attracting and retaining women in their workforces.
As AWRA and its objectives continue to gather momentum and build both public and industry profile, we look forward to many more industry CEO’s and executive leaders supporting our programs and initiatives, both formally and informally.
This newsletter also explores further opportunities to be involved in the AWRA e-Mentoring program, which has already delivered some rewarding outcomes for both mentors and m entees. If you have something to offer a young woman seeking career guidance and mentorship in the resource industry, please don’t hesitate to get involved in this initiative.
Finally, I can reveal the next AWRA newsletter will feature a case study on the first company to undertake the AWRA Recognised program.
Maritime services provider Farstad Shipping recently completed the recognised program and achieved very positive results for what is traditionally a heavily male-dominated industry. We are very proud to offer this new diversity assessment initiative to assist resource companies and look forward to explaining it in more detail over coming months.
For now, please enjoy the content and coverage in this newsletter and for all enquiries, contact AWRA Project Adviser Elspeth Jeffery via 1800 627 771 or [email protected].
