ON INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day 2018 Australia’s resources and energy industry is benchmarking itself on a range of workplace gender diversity performance measures – from pay equity and leadership to flexibility and participation.

A report released today by the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA), Gender Diversity in the Australian Resources Industry – Leading, Lagging or Losing Out, provides in-depth analysis of gender diversity ambitions in the sector and compares its progress to other industries.

“There has been significant motivation and efforts across the resources and energy industry to bridge the gender diversity gap,” Tara Diamond, spokesperson for AWRA and Director Industry Services of peak resources and energy group AREEA, said.

“Through this new report, we are putting the challenge out to industry and employers to evaluate whether they are leading, lagging or losing out on key diversity measures.

“The benefits of diversity in the workforce is evident and should be the catalyst for companies to focus on remedying any gap in gender diversity.”

Leading, Lagging or Losing Out shows that pay equity is one area in which resources and energy employers are leading the way, with a gap of just 14.5% compared to 25.4% across all industries.

“The resources and energy sector may have the smallest gap of any industry, but recognises that any gap is still unacceptable,” Ms Diamond said.

“By providing development opportunities for women, and eliminating bias in career progression and leadership pathways, our sector is working towards a goal of total pay equity.”

There are other areas, however, in which the resources and energy sector is clearly lagging behind the all industries average and must focus greater attention.

“Despite big efforts from resources and energy employers in recent years, overall workplace participation of women is an area in which our industry is still losing out,” Ms Diamond continued.

“Undoing the male-dominated reputation by attracting and recruiting more women to traditionally male-dominated roles is crucial to increasing women’s participation. We continue to promote and encourage programs specifically targeting women for apprenticeships and traineeships to deliver just that.

“Another area of attention is women in leadership roles. The resources and energy industry has a great deal of progress to make in this area, given women comprise just 2.5 per cent of CEOs currently.

“AWRA works with and supports employers and the wider industry on a number of a strategies for increasing the number of women in leadership positions.”

Ms Diamond hailed the Leading, Lagging or Losing Out report as a blueprint to guide the industry to meet gender diversity targets.

“Our overarching goal is to increase female participation in the resources and energy industry to 25 per cent by 2020,” she said.

The Australian Women in Resources Alliance was created by the Australian Resources and Energy Industry Group, AREEA, in 2011 in response to the imperative to grow female participation in the resources and energy industry.

Read the full report here.

Click here for a PDF of this release.