The perceptions of women in the workplace in the South African mining industry

Abstract

In South Africa (SA) the government introduced the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (28 of 2002) (MPRDA) and the Broad-based Socio-economic Empowerment Charter, commonly known as the Mining Charter, for the country's Mining and Minerals Industry (commonly known as the mining industry and referred to by that name throughout this dissertation) to address the imbalances and rectify previous inequalities in this industry. This legislation required for the inclusion of women in core activities within the mining industry to be at 10% in 2009. While the 2010 amendment to the Mining Charter further required that mining houses in terms of employment equity (EE) targets be at 40% for historically disadvantaged South Africans (HDSA) in core skills, by the year 2014, in order to diversify the workplace to reflect SA's demographics and to attain competitiveness, the Reviewed Mining Charter of 15 April 2016 stipulates the same requirements. The Reviewed Mining Charter of 15 April 2016 also requires in terms of EE at executive management board level to have a 15% representation of black females with exercisable voting rights and 25% at directors' level, 30% at senior management level, 38% at middle management level and 44% at junior management level. Although the SA Government has good intentions, gender equality in the mining industry remains a challenge in SA, and many problems are encountered in the deployment of women in this industry. Emanating from this background, the main objective of the study is to establish the perceptions of women in the workplace in the SA mining industry and to determine what changes have been made over the years to accommodate women and how it affects these women. To understand pertinent issues, determine inequalities, and gain insight into the variables which impact women in the workplace in the mining industry of SA, a literature review was concluded. To examine and gage relevant gender-related issues, an empirical study was conducted through the use of questionnaires in the form of quantitative research, using a Likert-type 5 rating scale. The questionnaires were distributed to women who attended the Annual Women in Mining Conference in SA in February 2017, which was representative of women from all over SA. As a result of the data acquired through the study, it became evident that several aspects must be considered in order for transformation to take place which will result in an improvement of the conditions experienced by women in the workplace in the SA mining industry. The study makes recommendations to the mining industry on how to make improvements to the current position of women in the workplace; and to make recommendations for future research.