The winners of the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) and Women in Mining and Resources Queensland (WIMARQ) 2021 Resources Awards for Women have been announced.
Maryann Wipaki, the General Manager of Health, Safety, Environment and Community for Glencore Metals, based in Mount Isa, was presented with the Exceptional Woman in Resources Award.
A 25-year mining veteran, Ms Wipaki is the only female of 10 senior leaders within Glencore’s metals operations in Australia. Ms Wipaki manages health and safety, environmental performance, community engagement and social performance for copper and zinc mining and processing operations across North Queensland, which employ more than 4700 people.
Ashleigh Turner, the Procurement Manager at Hastings Deering in Brisbane, managing an annual $2 billion budget, was recognised with the Exceptional Young Woman in Resources Award.
Ms Turner was the first person to complete the highly regarded Blackwood’s Aggregator Project in under 12 months and has been recognised as Young Talent of the Year by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply. Ms Turner was shortlisted for the 2021 Young Australian of the Year and her podcast Empower with Ash aims to help domestic violence survivors become thrivers.
The Exceptional Woman in Technological Innovation Award went to Sharna Glover, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Imvelo.ai, which specialises in business transformation and strategic technology.
Imvelo began operations in October 2019 and has quickly grown from a start-up to an established small enterprise that is focussed on developing Australia’s resources technology capability.
“I have worked as a resources technology leader now for 20 years and have made my share of mistakes in this time. I am of the belief that by actively sharing my experiences with other women that this will accelerate more women into the domain and assist them to be successful,” said Ms Glover.
Ms Glover is a passionate advocate for women in technology and gives her time generously to support the growth of women in the resources tech sector.
Liz Hansen was presented with the Gender Diversity Champion in Resources Award. After working in London, Houston, Montreal and Brisbane for major resources companies, Ms Hansen is Anglo American’s Culture and Inclusion Manager for the company’s metallurgical coal business in Queensland and Peace River Coal in Canada.
Ms Hansen was recognised for her work in spearheading a cultural change program that focused on the priority areas of Inclusive Leadership, Dynamic Working and the business-wide delivery of ‘Call It Out’ – a training program designed to support inclusive workplaces, free from bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination.
TransCoal took out the Excellence in Diversity Programs and Performance Award. TransCoal’s Managing Director, Faith Dempsey, is one of Australia’s key players within the mining and resources sector.
She has achieved an impressive list of accolades and commercial accomplishments including the first female to be awarded the AUSCIT/NEDO Traineeship; first female to negotiate with the Brazilian Steel Mills joint coal purchase cartel; and Inaugural Chairperson of the Blackwater User Group (a group of 10 mines, two power stations, Queensland Rail and Gladstone Port Authority) where she oversaw a reduction in freight costs of 30 per cent.
Collaborating with clients, regulators and supply chain partners, Ms Dempsey continues to deliver incredible value to the coal industry and to Queensland’s economy as a whole.
Caitlin Boothby from Biloela State High School was also awarded the Exceptional Female QMEA Student Award. Ms Boothby is interested in studying environmental engineering but also eager to learn more about the range of careers in the mining industry. She is a house captain and member of the Ministerial Student Advisory Council. In past years, Ms Boothby has attended a Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA) – Beaker Bots Build workshop and problem-solving Toolkit Day.
QRC Chief Executive, Ian Macfarlane, said all the award winners were leaders in their field and demonstrated the exciting career opportunities available for women in Queensland’s $82.6 billion resources sector, which supports 420,000 jobs across the state both directly and indirectly.
He said the future was bright for women wanting a career in resources, with new data showing a 25 per cent increase in the number of females working in the industry over the past financial year (rising from 5472 FTE in 2018/2019 to 6841 FTE in 2019/20).
Resources also recorded just over a 52 per cent increase in the size of its female workforce over the past five years, with more women moving into ‘non-traditional’ engineering, trades, operator and executive management roles (rising from 4493 FTE in 2015/16 to 6841 FTE in 2019/2020).
Last week, Mr Macfarlane told more than 950 guests at a QRC/WIMARQ International Women’s Day breakfast, held in conjunction with the Queensland Resources Awards for Women in Brisbane, that a gender-balanced workforce is not a ‘nice thing to have’ but a necessity to keep the resources sector operating at full capacity.
“There is fierce competition to attract skilled people into our industry which means we need to attract and retain more women so we can continue to grow our sector to supply the world with the minerals and energy it needs,” Mr Macfarlane said.
“Queensland can play a global role in producing in-demand raw materials and critical minerals needed for renewable energy infrastructure and technologies, but we need a skilled and diverse workforce in place to make this a reality.”
Release of sector diversity report
The QRC’s latest diversity report, Winning Women, reveals the number of women working in so-called ‘non-traditional’ roles in resources has increased by a record three percentage points – or 30 per cent – over the past financial year to reach almost 17 per cent (rising from 14 per cent in 2018/19 to 17 per cent in 2019/2020).
The proportion of women in trade careers has also risen by almost 70 per cent over the past 12 months from 4.8 per cent in 2018/19 to 7.4 per cent in 2019/20 which is a record increase in this traditionally hard to change statistic (270 FTE jobs to 447 FTE jobs).
Mr Macfarlane said the latest figures are a step in the right direction and demonstrate the resources sector is serious about increasing workforce diversity.
“I think we can take a moment to celebrate how far we’ve come, before we pin our ears back and set new targets to create the step-change needed to bring the resources workforce closer to gender parity,” he said.
Mr Macfarlane said the resources industry had shown remarkable resilience and determination to keep working, earning and employing its way through COVID.
“I think history will reflect positively on our sector during this challenging time, as we have proved our worth to the state economy and to jobs,” he said.
“We’ve shown that when the chips are down, you can count on resources to help Queensland recover.”
Resources Industry Recovery Plan to maximise economic recovery
Mr Macfarlane said Queensland can also count on resources to come up with solutions, which is why the adoption of a Resources Industry Development Plan is so critical to Queensland’s economic recovery from COVID.
“The Queensland Government’s commitment to work with the QRC and other stakeholders on a Resources Industry Development Plan to maximise Queensland’s recovery from COVID heralds a new era in government and industry cooperation and collaboration,” he said.
Mr Macfarlane said an upside to the COVID-19 pandemic had been the re-imagining of how people work, with evidence showing most employees perform well in a remote environment and many in fact have increased their productivity.
“The pandemic has normalised working from home and flexible arrangements for both men and women, enabling in many cases for caring roles to be shared more equitably,” he said.
“The emergence of a more flexible working environment makes it easier for women to stay in our workforce, to say yes to that training, to travel to those meetings and conferences, to take those promotions and to show that leadership.”
Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy and mentoring programs driving growth in female participation
Mr Macfarlane noted that the QRC’s highly successful Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA) – now in 80 schools around Queensland – is also having an enormous impact on attracting young women into the resources sector.
Data shows 13 per cent of female QMEA students who entered apprenticeships or traineeships in Queensland last year chose to work in mining, compared to 2.7 per cent of female students from non-QMEA schools.
Additionally, 11 per cent of female students from QMEA schools entered engineering and related technology studies in 2020 compared with just 3.4 per cent of girls from non-QMEA schools, which is up 4 per cent on 2019.
The QMEA is funded through a QRC members’ levy, support from individual companies and additional funding from the Queensland Government’s Gateway to Industry Schools Program Government.
Mr Macfarlane said industry initiatives such as female mentoring programs are also helping improve gender diversity in the resources sector.
More than 300 women have benefited from the QRC/WIMARQ Women’s Mentoring Program since 2014, with almost 90 per cent of participants reporting that it has benefitted their career or was directly responsible for a promotion.
In 2020, almost every Year 12 girl involved in the QMEA/WIMARQ Girls Mentoring Program said their mentors made them more aware of the many careers available in resources. Of those, 86 per cent entered STEM-related careers including trade careers, with 86 per cent entering resources-related education or training or a health field that supports regional communities.
The IWD breakfast and awards event featured keynote speaker, Queensland University of Technology Chancellor and resources industry leader Dr Xiaoling Liu. A copy of Dr Liu’s speech is available here.
Further information on the 2021 QRC/WIMARQ Resources Awards for Women finalists and winners can be found here and here.
