THE momentum behind the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) continues to build as employers and other significant stakeholders today meet in Melbourne to workshop methods for attracting more women into the national resource industry.
Mentoring programs for women and an industry-wide education campaign are this afternoon’s key agenda items for the AWRA initiative, which is co-funded by the Australian Government and the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AREEA).
AREEA chief executive Steve Knott says the growing success of AWRA is a testament to the cooperation between industry and government on crucial workforce development strategies.
“The greater attraction and retention of women in the national resource industry has been identified as one of many key strategies to address our industry’s heightening workforce requirements,” Mr Knott says.
“Industry forecasts are that more than 90,000 new jobs will be created on major mining, hydrocarbons and related construction projects by 2016. This is being driven by over $680 billion of investment either underway or slated for Australian resource projects.
“There are a plethora of opportunities for women, particularly those with specialised skills, among this activity and our sector must improve on its 16 per cent female representation in the total workforce.
“Through AWRA, the wider industry and Australian Government are working together to deliver an initiative that will make resources employment an attractive prospect for many more women. The target is to achieve a 25 per cent female workforce representation by 2020.”
The AWRA Reference Group meeting in Melbourne this afternoon brings together company representatives and leaders from various industry groups to discuss a widespread educational campaign based on attraction and retention practices.
This is followed by the first AWRA Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting which involves employers discussing exactly how these practices can be implemented within their organisations.
“The ability for AWRA to unite representatives from every major resources employer group in Australia is something our industry has not seen before,” Mr Knott says.
“Some of the key things being discussed include how a mentoring program will operate, with the aim of providing pathways for women to achieve their full career potential.
“AWRA is also finalising its various ‘way forward papers’, which provide in-depth practical advice to employers as to how their workplaces can be more conducive to gender diversity.
“While the public debate often focuses on policy differences, this is just one of many examples where a co-contribution model is having great success behind-the-scenes.”
Click here for a PDF of this media release including relevant media contacts.
